


The Light Of The Moon

by Sn3aker



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Not giving any spoilers with the tags :P, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-02-27 19:25:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13255041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sn3aker/pseuds/Sn3aker
Summary: Set in the canon universe that diverges from Lava Lake Beach.





	1. Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Star Vs The Forces Of Evil

 

"Kelly wait up!" Marco shouted as he ran up to her.

"I just wanted to say if you need to talk-"

Kelly teared up and sobbed quietly as she embraced Marco "I don't know who I am anymore! All I know is I'm tired of being Tads girlfriend… and I can't seem to move on."

"That stuff takes time."

"I know but... ah… Tad's still in here." Kelly said while she held up her hands to her chest.

Marco smiled at her. "He'll always be in here." Marco said as he brought his own hands up to his chest. "But it gets ea-"

"No! Marco, he hasn't moved out yet. He's still in here." She said and pointed to her hair.

"Wait! What?"

"He just isn't getting it and I already hurt him too much."

"I could try talking to him."

"Really? Hmh Maybe he'll listen to you. You are his best friend… Heh."

Marco rubbed the back of his head as he laughed awkwardly. "Ha ha… I am?"

Kelly untied her hair and covered herself in it. "Go on in."

"In there?" Marco asked as he pointed to her hair and tried to laugh it off as a joke.

"Yeah."

"In your hair?" Marco asked with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Get in hair! Get it? He he, Get. In. Hair! Ha ha!"

Marco entered what could only be described as a pocket dimension in Kellys hair. The place was quite large and resembled a cave, only everything was made out of hair. Marco, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how this could possibly work. Although he couldn't explain it, he wasn't even fazed by this since this didn't even come close to the weirdest thing he'd seen. Not. Even. Close.

He walked through the cave of hair, noticing all the empty pizza boxes and soda bottles.

'Kelly really needs to wash her hair more often' He thought.

Marco noticed a weird cat like creature, dressed as a pizza delivery guy, walking out with money in hand. Marco couldn't put his finger on it but there was something undoubtedly evil about that creature.

Marco walked up to Tad, who was sitting in a lawn chair, looking into his pizza box. Marco read what's written on the pizza box 'Vegan Pizza'. Marco silently gaged to himself. 'That explains why the pizza guy seemed evil.'

"Uhm… Hey Tad!" Marco said while awkwardly waving at him.

Tad dropped the lid of the pizza box, revealing his saddened face as a slice of pizza slid out of his mouth. "Oh hey bestie." Tad sighed. "Kelly dumped me again." He licked the slice of pizza that fell from his mouth.

"Yeah that's why I'm here. She asked me to come talk to you."

"Are we getting back together?" Tad asked in a much more cheerful tone.

"No. She needs you to move out bud."

"She keeps saying that but I've been looking."

Marco was a bit surprised by that. "Oh! That's great! Where?"

"Hmm… like… On the back of these pizza boxes… ugh… inside these chip bags… at the bottom of these soda pops." Tad elaborated and started gulping down the drink.

"Look dude, I felt the same way when Jackie and I split." Marco said, trying to sympathize with the weird hairball.

"That's your b man." Tad said while pointing the bottle of soda at Marco. "Kelly and I break up and make up constantly. We'll get back together in no time so why even bother getting out of this chair?"

"Tad. It's for real this time."

"You're hushing my groove Marco."

"Dude, Kelly wants to move on, you should give her that chance!"

Marco grabbed the pizza box and tried to yank it away from him. "Come… On… You're only making yourself miserable hanging around her."

Tad sighed and let go of the pizza box. "You're right, you're the expert."

"Well yeah I'm an expert in many thin- Wait! What? What are you talking about?" Marco asks, confused by what Tad meant. He crossed his arms and raises an eyebrow at him.

"How you're making yourself miserable by hanging around Star."

"Whaaaat? Pshhh… what does Star have to do with… If anything I'm miserable because… because Jackie dumped me!"

"Marco, you didn't come here for the soulrise."

"Yes, I did."

"Oh Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco… Marco." Tad says while putting 5 hands on his face.

"Ahhh." Marco protests.

Tad put a finger to his lips. "Shhh."

"I've been watching you all night. You have feelings for your best friend dude." Tad stated matter of factly.

"Whaat? Nooo! No.  _no_." Marco retorted, sounding unsure himself. That last 'no' barely but a whisper.

"Dude, you have  _dimensional scissors_! You could be knocking back soda pops and crushing pizzas in any dimension, and you're choosing to live with your unavailable crush. When it comes to making yourself miserable you are the master bro."

Marcos mind became a scrambled mess. He didn't know how to process the information that had just been dumped on him. Him…. having a crush on Star… his best friend. He just couldn't see that as a possibility. So he did the only logical thing his brain could conjure up at that moment. Deny it.

"No. No. Nonononononono. Oh nononono." Marco responded in his messed up state.

"Marco you okay? Buddy?" Tad asked, concerned about the way Marco responded to his truth bomb.

Marco backed out of the cave of hair while mumbling 'no' constantly.

As he reappeared back on the beach, Kelly asked if he talked with Tad but Marco didn't register this. His confused feeling and scrambled brain wouldn't let him. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't accept this new revelation. How could he have feelings for his best friend? He just couldn't face the truth, so he ran. He tried to get away from any romantic thoughts in his head, but no matter where he went, all he saw was couples. So he kept running until he saw something that he really wished he hadn't.

There, sitting on a pink blanket, was Star and Tom… kissing. You could practically hear his heart shatter at that moment. There was no more running from it, he had to face the truth, no matter how hard it was. He had feelings for his best friend.

But, just because he had to face these new feelings, doesn't mean he had to face them right at this moment. Right now, that was the last thing he wanted. So he pulled out his dimensional scissors and cut a portal to his room at the castle.

He stopped for a moment, wondering how his friends were gonna get home without his scissors but then he remembered that Tom could summon portals with his fire magic.

He stepped through the portal and went straight for his bed. He plopped down on it with a loud 'thud and looked up at the ceiling as a lone tear slid down his face. Now, in the quiet of his room, he could finally think.

'I can't believe this. I… have feelings…  _for Star_. How long have I had these feelings? Ugh why did Tad have to say anything? I would have been perfectly fine living my miserable life as Stars squire. Well not really fine but at least not as bad. It's going to be so much harder hanging around Star and Tom now.'

Marco looked at the clock and saw that it was past twelve.

'This has got to be the worst birthday present  _ever_.'

* * *

Marco woke up the next morning, groggy and tired. He hadn't really gotten a good night's sleep on account of his restless brain. He had spent most of the night mulling over his new (or maybe not so new) feeling and trying to figure out how deep his feelings for Star actually went. Was it just a crush, or did it go deeper than that? No matter, this wasn't really the time to think about that.

Today was Marcos birthday and he needed to look presentable so people wouldn't ask him questions.

He begrudgingly got out of bed and changed into a fresh set of his trademark clothes. Black skinny jeans, sneakers and, of course, his read hoodie. He was about to leave his room when the door slammed open- launching him across the room.

"Good morning Marco!" called out a bubbly voice that he would recognize anywhere.

"Morning Star!" Marco called out from the floor with a huff.

"Hey Marco, I wanted to ask you a question."

Marco stiffened up and started sweating. 'Oh God! How am I going to explain my sudden disappearance at the beach? They probably spent hours looking for me yesterday, and I just left without even so much as-'

His thoughts were interrupted by Star asking "Which dress do you think I should wear today? The blue one or the pink one?" She held up an elegant blue shoulderless dress with stunning butterfly patterns on its knee high skirt and a dress that resembled the one she wore at the Blood Moon ball but a lot pinker and with a longer skirt.

Marco was a bit baffled at her question. 'Isn't she even gonna ask where I disappeared to last nigh-'

"C'mon, Marco, hurry up. I don't have all day."

"Oh, the blue one" Marco quickly answered.

"Yeah, I was leaning towards this one too. Thanks Marco!"

Marco tried to recompose himself and quickly got off the floor. "May I ask what the special occasion is?" He asked as he dusted himself off. He didn't really think that his birthday was something worth dressing up to.

"Weeell today is mine and Toms three monthaversary!" Star practically squealed out in excitement.

Marco tried to suppress the frown that tried to creep up on his face. "... Oh… well... that's cool. Congratulations to you two!" Marco attempted to sound as cheerful as possible, but failed miserably. It's not that he wasn't happy for them. He was. Tom's one of his best friends and so was Star. He really did want to be happy for the two but these new feelings were making that very difficult.

Star didn't even seem to notice Marcos strange behavior. "Thanks! I'm taking him to this awesome BBQ place in Mewni but shhh, it's a surprise!"

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." Marco responded, trying to sound happier. He pretended to zip up his lips.

"Well anyways, I need to go and get everything ready. Thanks for your help! See ya later Marco!" Star cheerfully shouted, as she ran down the hall of the palace.

Marco slowly closed the door as he stepped out into the hallway with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Well that was strange, she didn't even wish me a happy birthday. Did she forget? Nah, this is Star I'm talking about. She would never forget someone's birthday."

Marco roamed the castle trying to find the dining hall. Even after spending so much time in Mewni, he still had trouble making his way around the maze they called a castle. While searching, he accidentally wound up in the throne room of the palace.

River quickly noticed the red hooded boy and called out to him. "Good morning Marco, my boy! Could you come over here for a moment?"

Marco quickly made his way over to the thrones and attempted a bow. During his stay, he hadn't really talked much to the monarchs, so he wasn't quite sure how to greet them properly. "Good morning, your majesties!"

"There's no need for formalities Marco, you're basically family!" River said while waving his hand in front of him.

Marco smirked at the comment. "So what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, a couple of things my boy. Firstly, I wanted to apologize for giving you that cape. Someone who's done so much for the kingdom and, more importantly, my daughter deserves a real award. I've also heard that it's your birthday today so please accept this gift as a token of our gratitude, this is what you should have received back then." River says as he hands him a well-crafted red chainmail chestplate. It had a yellow star decorating its center that seemed to dimly glow.

Marco slowly took it from the king, surprised by how light it was. "Th- thank you.. I'm honored… I feel like I don't deserve such an exquisite gift."

River let out a hearty laugh. "Don't mention it boy. You have done more than enough to earn that, don't sell yourself short lad. Moon has enchanted the chestplate so that it's light, durable and resistant to magic in case Star accidentally blasts you during combat. It's made to be worn under your clothing." River finished with a wide grin.

"Again, thank you! I will wear it with pride!"

"While we're on the subject of clothing." Moon quickly cut in. "We've heard that Star has somehow managed to make you her squire so, if you're going to be squiring for the princess, you are going to need to look the part." She handed him a white suit, similar to the one he wore on song day, but with some elegant golden trimmings. Marco blushed a bit at the memory of song day. "This is going to be your new outfit around the castle. We can't have the princess's squire running around the castle in street clothing now can we?" Moon asked with a small smile on her face.

"So how come Star doesn't have to dress all fancy around the castle? Don't get me wrong, I love the suit, just... curious."

"Believe me, we've tried getting her to dress properly, but, ever since she returned from Earth, we haven't been able to get her in a proper dress. Maybe seeing you dressed so princely will encourage her to dress more proper." She teases.

Marcos cheeks became a tad bit redder. "Well thank you both for the gifts! I'm gonna go change now."

"Enjoy the rest of your birthday Marco! Don't party too hard!" Replied River.

Marco went back to his room to change. Once he was out of the throne room River sat back in his throne, crossed his arms and pouted. Moon glanced over at him and sighed. "What is it dear?"

"You know I've been wanting to give him that suit since Flag Day, and I didn't even get to be the one to give it to him! I had it specially made!"

Moon slightly chuckled at her husband's childish behavior. "You know very well why you couldn't give it to him back then. This was necessary though since he now has to accompany Star to royal meetings. His birthday was just a convenient excuse to give this to him and it seemed more fitting for you to give the armour."

River slightly chuckled. "I suppose you are right my dear. It would be a tad strange if I was the one to gift the suit."

* * *

Marco opened the door to his room and went inside. He placed the suit and chestplate on his bed and took off his hoodie. He grabbed the chestplate and wore it over his Goblin Dog shirt. He was surprised by how light it was, it felt like putting on an extra shirt. He also found it really easy to move around in which was important considering his fighting style. He then changed into the suit and examined himself in the mirror.

"Whoa… I almost look like the prince of Terra. Now if only I had Rolands sword to complete the look." Marco thought out loud. While looking at a mirror he heard an all too familiar ripping sound and glanced back, seeing a portal being opened in his room.

"What's up home fries! Now that the party queen has arrived, this party can finally get star... ted..." Pony Head exclaimed as she came out of the portal, trailing off as she noticed the almost empty room.

Marco smiled at his friends shenanigans. "Hey Pony Head! What brings you here?"

Pony Head looked around the room and then back at Marco. "Well I was expecting a party to be going on, but I guess you took the whole 'It ain't a party without me' thing literally. So what's going on? Where's the party at? And why are you dressed like that?" Asked Pony Head taking note of his new outfit.

"Sorry to disappoint Pony but I don't think there's gonna be a party today and as to why I'm dressed like this, this is sort of like my new uniform around the castle, what with me being the princess's squire and all."

Pony Head stared at Marco like he had grown a second head before bursting out laughing. "Ha ha ha… Nice one Marco! I almost believed you there for a second but now seriously, where's the party at? This girl has got to get her groove on!" Pony head finished with a bit of annoyance in her tone.

"I'm serious Pony. There are no parties going on today, at least not any that I'm aware of."

"What do you mean there are no parties that you're aware of? What about your birthday party?" Pony Head exclaimed with disbelief evident in her voice.

"I don't think I'm going to be celebrating this year. I don't really know that many people in Mewni, and I don't really want to go to Earth just to celebrate." Marco tried to shrug it off.

"Ohohoh NO! I'm not just gonna sit here while my Earth bestie remains partyless on his b-day. Where's Star? She must have prepared something by now."

"Actually, I think she's on a date with Tom. I think they're celebrating an anniversary or something."

Pony Head looked furious. "OH NO SHE DIDN'T! SHE DID NOT JUST BLOW OFF HER BEST BESTIE JUST TO GO ON A DATE WITH THAT DEMON! WHEN I SEE HER, SHE'S GONNA GET AN EARFULL!"

"Whoa! Calm down Pony Head! She probably just forgot. I don't think she would intentionally ignore me on my birthday."

"But that's even worse! No bestie would ever forget another besties b-day. Especially a BEST BESTIES!" Pony yelled in frustration.

"Hey, just relax! Listen, Stars has had to deal with a lot recently and she isn't really herself right now." 'I should know. The way she acted when I came back to Mewni, I could tell that something was really bothering her.' "She didn't mean to forget, she just has a lot on her mind right now and my birthday just slipped through the cracks."

"And her anniversary with Tom somehow managed to remain a top priority?" pony Head said in an annoyed tone.

'Ouch… Didn't really think about that.' "Listen, the truth of the matter is that Tom is more important to her now, and there isn't anything we can do about it. Tom is her boyfriend, and she probably just wants to spend more time with him." It was difficult for Marco to get through that sentence while keeping his composure, but he somehow managed.

"It's still not cool of her. Just ditching you like that on your b-day. If I was you I would be furious. I don't know how you can remain so calm after a backstab like that."

"Guess I've gotten used to it." Marco mumbled to himself with his head hung low and a small frown.

"Well I guess if there's no party then I should head back home. I think my sister are plotting to disown me again and I need to get back and figure out what they are up to before they put their plan in action." Pony Head says as she somehow produces scissors out of her mouth and cuts open a portal. "Here's your gift Marco, by the way. I didn't really know what to get you so I thought I'd just let you choose whatever you want." She spat out a small card out of her mount and into Marcos hands.

Marco instantly recognizes the gift card from Quest Buy and his eyes went wide. "Listen Pony, I really appreciate the gift but I've had some bad experiences with Quest Buy gift cards." Marco said with panic evident in his voice.

"Don't worry, this is just a regular gift card, not one of those weird 'friends till the end' cards. You can redeem any one item with it."

"Oh, thank goodness!" Marco lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks Pony! I'll put this to good use."

"No problem! If you decide to go celebrate later, give me a call. I could get a small crew together, and we could go check out that new 'flounce lounge' everyone's been raving about!"

"K, I'll keep that in mind. Bye Pony!"

"Bye Earth Turd! Enjoy the rest of your birthday!" Pony Head exclaimed with a playful smirk. She went through the portal and it closed after her.

Marco stashed the gift card in his plum colored wallet that he had gotten with the previous gift card that tried to kill him and Star. He must admit that even though they almost died that day, it really was an awesome adventure. He missed the days where he could just go on mindless adventures with Star all day and goof off with her. He missed getting in trouble with her, only for them to find a way out of it together. Most of all he missed…  _her_. He missed hanging out with Star, his best friend… his love. Ever since he returned to Mewni, she had kind of been ignoring him. Yeah, they kind of patched things up, and she made him her squire but even when they do hang out there's this awkward tension between them. She still seems to act pretty distant and things haven't really improved all that much.

He shook those thoughts out of his head. Today was his birthday and he wasn't just gonna sit around in his room and feel sorry for himself. He decided to practice a bit of karate to clear his head, so he changed into his GI and picked up some of the boards that were lying in a corner of his room.

* * *

It was later in the evening and Marco was studying up on his Mewman history with a couple of books that he had taken from the castles amazing library. It looked like something taken straight out of Harry Potter with its gigantic bookcases filled with ancient looking tomes.

He didn't really have anything better to do since Star and Tom were probably out on a date and he didn't have many friends in Mewni, so he decided to educate himself on what exactly has been going on in Mewni for the last couple of centuries. He figured the information would be useful when he would have to help Star with the monster rights issue.

Marco was just mindlessly reading a chapter about the importance of corn in Mewman culture when a ringing sound caught his attention.

He closed the ancient tome he was reading and went up to the magical mirror that he had asked Star to magic up for his room. He recognized the caller ID as the mirror from his home on Earth and promptly pressed the diamond on the side of the mirrors frame to answer.

"Happy fifteenth birthday Marco!" Marcos parents cheerfully shouted as soon as he answered, holding up a cake with the same phrase written on it in frosting.

"We're sorry for pulling you away from your party dear but we just couldn't wait any longer to see our little baby boy!" Exclaimed Angie.

"We were so excited that we decided to bake you a cake!" Rafael added.

"Aww thanks guys! You didn't have to." Marco felt a bit awkward since he wasn't having a party but decided against mentioning this since he felt like if he did, his parents would not leave until he had a proper party.

"Well of course we had to hijo! It's your fifteenth birthday and as your parents it is our duty to celebrate even if you aren't here!" Rafael said.

"Oh darling look at that suit!" Angie gushes to her husband then gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. "Did you finally become a prince?"

Marco tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean? This is my squire uniform."

"Oh! Never mind dear. Can you please open a portal so we can give you the cake?"

"Oh yeah sure mom." Marco took out his scissors and snipped at the air, opening a portal for his parents. They both instantly leapt through the portal and engulfed their son in a bone crushing hug.

"We've missed you so much dear!" Angie said as a single tear ran down her cheek.

"Aww come on mom, I visit you guys like every few days." It was true that he visited every few days but Marcos visits tended to be short, just enough for them to catch up over dinner. Marco didn't really know why but he didn't like going back to Earth. There was this weird feeling in his gut that seemed to be keeping him away and when he did go, he kept his visits as short as possible.

They pull back from the hug and Angie looks up at her son. "Oh we know that you try your best to visit us. You're probably so busy here but it's just a big change from being able to see you every day." Marco was hit with a feeling of guilt. In truth he wasn't all that busy. He didn't have any real obligations, and he hadn't really been spending all that much time with Star either since she would usually be out on a date with Tom.

"He he… yeah. Very busy." Marco said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck and averting his gaze from his parents.

"So anyways, how are you and Star doing?" Asked Rafael.

Marco visibly recoiled at the mention of Star. "Oh we're fine. We've just been having fun the past few days. Trying to get monsters rights, you know- little things." Marco said while trying to regain his composure.

His parents noticed the change in attitude and began to grow a bit worried. "Is everything alright between you and Star dear? Did you guys get into an argument?"

"What? No! I said that everything is fine between us, and we didn't get into an argument." Marco sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than his parents that everything was alright.

His parents shared a worried look but decided that they shouldn't press any further if he didn't want to share.

"Oh I almost forgot! Your friends made a little gift for you. They told me to give it to you the next time we see you." Rafael pulled out an envelope and handed it to Marco.

Marco opened it up and inside was a picture of him and a bunch of his friends that they had taken at the end of the school year. Marco flipped the picture over and saw that there were a bunch of happy birthday wishes written on the back. Reading the birthday wishes and comments about how they missed him brought a tear to his eye. Marco really did miss his Earth friends, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to go back to Earth. He thought that maybe he should organize a get together on Mewni if he couldn't bring himself to go to Earth.

"Thanks. Tell them that I miss them too and that I'll try to organize a little get together soon." Marco spoke with sincerity in his voice.

"Okay honey. Now why don't you blow out the candles so we can have some cake dear?"

Marco walked up to his father who was holding up the cake with fifteen candles in it. "Don't forget to make a wish!"

Marco thought for a moment before drawing a long breath.

'I wish…'

* * *

It was much later in the evening now and the sun was just starting to set. Marco was laying down on his bed, trying to relax his sore muscles and not agitate the bruises all over his body.

After Marcos parents had left, Marco decided to go train with the other knights and squires. He knew that he didn't really have to do it since his squire title was basically just an honorary one but he still felt like he had to at least try to prove himself as worthy of being a squire, if not for others than himself.

On his way to the training field he had ran into Kelly, who had wanted to wish him a happy birthday and thank him for talking with Tad and getting him to move out of her hair. She asked him why he had left so suddenly yesterday. He said that it was personal and that he really didn't want to talk about it. Luckily Kelly understood, she only asked since she had to cover for his sudden disappearance. She had seen him portal away and had told Star and Tom that he was tired and didn't want to ruin their fun which explained why Star hadn't brought it up that morning. Marco was grateful to her for covering for him and she said that it was the least she could do.

Kelly offered to train him a bit for helping her out since she was an experienced adventurer with quite a few tricks up her hair. Marco didn't really need the help since he still had some of the memories from his days in Hekapoos dimension and his karate, but he gladly accepted her offer since he didn't really know the other knights that well, and he needed to get his mind off of Star.

They sparred for about an hour, Kelly constantly besting him and giving him helpful advice. Eventually she had to go back home which left Marco to train with the other knight.

The other knights and squires didn't really go easy on him since to them he was just a peasant who had cozied up to the royal family. In fact they gave him special treatment which resulted in his muscles and bones now aching. It probably didn't help that he had went to the practice field in his new royal looking suit.

Marco was trying to rest when he noticed the smell of something burning. He turned his head and spotted a small flame on his floor. It suddenly grew to a massive pillar of fire and out of it stepped Tom dressed in his regular clothing.

Marco smiled at seeing his friend and sat up in his bed. "Hey Tom! What brings you here?"

Tom quickly grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "Don't play dumb with me Diaz. What you did was NOT COOL! How could you betray me like that? I thought we were BROS!"

"Tom what the hack are you talking about!? I haven't done anything!" Marco almost screamed in a panicked voice.

"That's precisely the problem! How could you not invite me to your birthday party man? I thought we were friends!"

"Tom I haven't had a party!"

Tom calmed down a bit and arched a brow. "What do you mean you haven't had a party? Did I mess up my dates? I could have sworn that today was your birthday." Tom trailed off at the end trying to wrap his head around this.

"It is my birthday today, I just didn't throw a party Tom. I don't get why everyone expected me to have a party today."

"…Because today is your birthday and you're best friends with Star Butterfly, AKA the self-declared party queen." Tom clarifies.

"Yeeeah… about that, I kinda think she may have… forgot… about my birthday…"

Tom stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter as he started rolling around on the floor. "Ha ha ha… I can't breathe… that's rich Marco… Star forgetting your birthday... That's like saying a fish forgot how to swim… ha ha…"

"Tom, I'm serious, I think she may have forgotten." Marco says with the slightest bit of irritation in his voice.

Tom laughed for a few more seconds before calming down and getting off the floor. "Okay… okay… what makes you think that she forgot?"

"Weeeell when I met her this morning she didn't even mention my birthday and she seemed to be getting ready to go on a date with you. She mentioned something about it being your anniversary." Marco explained.

"Well yeah it is our anniversary today but put yourself in Stars mind for a second. If you were Star and it was your best friend's birthday, what would you do?"

"Well… I would want to do something special for them."

"Yeah… go on."

"I don't know… I would try to surprise them maybe?"

"Good Marco! Now think, have you seen Star today."

"Well excluding this morning, no, I haven't."

"Here's a hint, I haven't seen her all day too. So, what does that mean?" Tom folded his arms with a smug smile on his face.

"That… she… forgot to invite you to the date in her excitement?"

Tom looked at him with a look of pure disbelief and face palmed. "Oh man you're dense. Try again."

"That… she's… preparing something?"

"Bingo! Took you long enough. Don't worry, knowing Star she's probably setting up the most over the top surprise birthday party ever."

Marcos lips curved into a small smile. "Thanks Tom. That made me feel better. I can't believe that I actually thought that she might have forgotten."

"Hey no problem! That's what bros are for!" Tom slapped Marcos back, almost sending him to the floor. "Now I don't have to burn you to a crisp for not inviting me!"

"I'm pretty sure Star would freeze you before you even got a chance to burn me." Marco joked.

Tom chuckled a bit. "Yeah, you're probably right. Anyways, while I'm here I might as well give you your present."

"Aww Tom you didn't have to get me anything."

"Of Corse I did. You're like my first real friend, I couldn't just not get you anything."

Marco arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well… you're my first real friend. Everyone in the underworld just sort of pretends since… you know… I'm the prince." Tom explained.

"Weeeel… what about Star? I mean you guys did date before this."

"Yeeeah… but our parents kind of pushed us together. You're the first real friend I made as Tom not Prince Tom. I mean heck, we hated each other when we first met!"

"Yeah… good times." Marco said while reminiscing. "I must say Tom, you've come a really far way since then. I'm proud of you." Marco said with nothing but sincerity in his voice.

Tom had a small smile on his face from the compliment. "Thanks dude. Now for your present. I'm going to need you to hold out your hands in front of you, palms facing up and eyes closed."

"I swear if you put a goats head in my hands I'm gonna karate chop your head off." Marco deadpanned.

"Ah come on Marco, have some faith."

"I thought faith was bad for demons."

"Fine, just trust me man"

Marco nodded. "I trust you." Marco stuck out his hands and closed his eyes as instructed.

Tom hovered his own palms over Marcos and closed his eyes. He then started chanting something in a demonic tone and what sounded like multiple tongues. The room darkened. A bunch of runes and symbols started appearing all over the room, faintly glowing in different colors. Tom opened his eyes and tilted his head back. His eyes were glowing pure white. As he continued chanting the runes and symbols started converging around their hands.

Marco didn't dare open his eyes, hearing his friend's daemon chants but more importantly because he trusted Tom. He trusted him not to do anything that would cause him harm or distress. Also he knew that even if Tom did do something bad that Star would blast him to kingdom come.

The chant started growing in volume and intensity. With each passing second Toms voice grew more demonic. At this point all the symbols and runes had gathered between their palms, compressed in the small space between them. Tom yelled out one last demonic phrase as he brought their palms together. The room instantly brightened and Tom dropped to his knees, panting and sweating.

Marco opened his eyes and helped his friend up, supporting his weight. "Tom, you alright? What happened?"

Tom chuckled a bit to himself between breaths. "He he… check your hands."

"Check my han…" Marco looked down at his hands and noticed that they were covered in tattoos of runes and symbols. He flipped over the hand that wasn't supporting his friend and checked the palm of his hand. In the middle of his palm was an encircled pentagram. Marcos heart filled with dread. "Tom... WHAT THE HECK? YOU DON'T JUST GO AROUND TATTOOING YOUR FRIENDS WITHOUT AT LEAST ASKING FIRST. MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO KILL ME WHEN THEY SEE THIS!" Marco flailed his arm around to emphasize his point.

"Ha ha just calm down Marco. That isn't just a regular tattoo, it's a demon hex."

"How is that any better?"

"Well with this you can summon your own fire. Think of it as me giving you a bit of my powers. With this hex you can do basic fire magic." Tom explained.

"...Really? ...Uhmm thanks Tom. That's really cool of you. Could have warned me about the tattoos though."

"Don't worry, they will only appear when you actually use them. They should fade in about an hour or so."

"Wow… I don't know what to say… thank you so much Tom."

"Don't mention it, just try not to burn the castle down. You take full responsibility for any disasters you cause."

"Well if you manage to not burn everything to the ground with your anger issues then this should be a cakewalk." Marco playfully jabbed.

"Well I'll see you at the not so surprise party later Marco. I'm gonna go find something to eat. Casting that hex made me famished." Tom said as he went for the door.

"Take care man! See you later!" Marco waved goodbye to his friend.

Once Tom was out the door he started heading towards the dining hall. While trekking through the endless halls of Mewni castle he felt his mirror phone buzz in his pocket. He fished it out and found that he had received a text from Star.

' _Hey Tom! Could you meet me at_ _this_ _address at 9.00 pm please?_ '

Tom smiled and thought out loud. "Looks like Star needs help setting up the party."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first ever fanfic so any feedback would be much appreciated! I originally posted this on FanFiction.net and then I thought "You know what? A3O is a cool site. I should probably post it there too." I was originally gonna post them on both sites at the same time but I didn't realize that you needed an invitation to register on here so you guys are getting the first three chapters right off the bat! New chapters come around every two weeks or so since I'm new to this and a very slow writer. Hope you all enjoyed! C'ya next time!


	2. Birthday pt.2

Tom stepped out his fire portal at the address that Star had sent him. He looked up and saw the sign of the restaurant 'Xix Barbecue'. After reading the sign Tom got excited. He had heard a lot of great things about this place but had never gotten an opportunity to come here.

He went inside and was a bit surprised. The place looked a lot… fancier than he expected from a barbecue place. The floor was white marble and there were marble columns supporting the ceiling from which hung giant crystal chandeliers. There were tables of varying sizes adorned with white tablecloths, the chairs looked elegant with an hourglass silhouette and a beautiful diamond pattern on the backrest. In the center of the room was a giant fountain of what appeared to be a sausage.

'Huh… business must be thriving.' Tom thought. 'Seems a bit too… elegant for a birthday party though. I guess Star's going all out on this.'

He spotted Star sitting at a table for two with a lit candle in the center of the table. She was dressed in an elegant red and pink dress with white boots and her signature devil headband.

Tom looked down at his own outfit and felt extremely underdressed. He didn't expect to have to dress up for a party. He started walking up to her and thought about how it was weird that there were no party decorations or how nobody else had arrived yet, but he quickly put those thoughts to the back of his head and assumed that the party room was probably somewhere in the back.

Tom quietly approached Star. "Hey Star!"

Star whipped her head around and smiled brightly upon seeing him. "Hey Tom! You're finally here!" She exclaimed excitedly. Star looked him up and down a couple of times and cleared her throat. "Uhm.. Tom… don't you think you should have dressed a little bit more… formal."

Tom glanced down at his clothes again. A red T-shirt with a five-pointed star in the center, brown shorts, and brown boots. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well I wasn't expecting us to celebrate in such a fancy place. I thought it would be a little bit more... casual."

"Oh well you know me, nothing but the best for us."

"Yeah I guess so. So, what did you call me here for?"

"Weeell I needed my boyfriend to come celebrate with me. You know this isn't really a one Mewman operation."

"Okay so shouldn't we go join the others then? And when exactly is Marco getting here?" Tom asked.

Star had a puzzled look on her face and arched a brow at him. "What does Marco have to do with this? And what others?"

Now it was Toms turn to look puzzled. "You know… the rest of the party guests."

"Why would we invite anyone else to celebrate our anniversary?"

Toms puzzled expression turned to one of shock. "Wait wait wait wait wait a second. Star, you do realize what today is, right?" Tom asked in a pleading tone. He seriously didn't want to believe that Star,  _The_  Star Butterfly, could have forgotten what today was.

Star was getting even more confused by the second. "...I don't get it Tom. Today is our anniversary. C'mon, let's celebrate. Don't tell me you forgot." Star said in a playful tone.

Tom started to feel rage building up in his stomach. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Of course, I remember that it's our anniversary today, but Star, don't you think you're forgetting something a bit more important than our anniversary?" Tom said with a bit of anger laced in his voice.

Star couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tom Lucitor, the same Tom that had been chasing after her ever since she dumped him, was saying that there was something more important than their anniversary. He really must have changed if that was the case.

Star was getting worried. Even though Tom was hiding it well, she could tell that he was getting angry and she hadn't seen him like this since the demoncism. It was clear to her now that whatever she was forgetting was really important. She thought for a few seconds, trying to wrack her brain about anything she could have forgotten. "Listen, Tom, I'm really sorry, but I just can't remember anything else special about today."

Tom tried all he could to calm down but it wasn't working. He wasn't really angry so much as he was disappointed in Star, but his body responded to all negative emotions the same way- with fire. He realized that he needed to end this conversation quickly and leave before he could burst. "I'm not the one you have to apologize to!" Tom said with gritted teeth. He turned on his heels and started heading towards the door with a scowl on his face. As he walked, he left flaming footprint on the marble floor.

Star got up out of her seat and followed him while putting out the flames with her wand. "Then who do I have to apologize to? And for what?" She pleaded with him.

"That, Star, you're gonna have to figure out on your own. If I remind you, then you didn't really remember, did you?" Tom stormed out of the restaurant and disappeared in a pillar of fire.

Star tried diving through the portal after him, but it closed right before she could reach it. She landed on the ground and grunted in pain. Star got off the floor and dusted herself off. Glancing back at the restaurant she realized that everyone was staring at her. She hadn't realized just how big of a scene they were making. She summoned cloudy with her wand and took off to the palace.

On her way home she started thinking about what she could have forgotten. 'I don't get it. What was so important that it would get him so mad?' She thought in a dejected tone. 'Apparently it was more important than our anniversary, but I just can't figure out what could be more important. Let's see. Is today a Mewni holiday? Nope. Is it an underworld holiday? Also no. Was… was I supposed to do something important today? I don't think so otherwise mom would have constantly pestered me about it. Tom asked if I realized what day it is so it must be some sort of special day today. But what made today special other than our anniversary. Ugh why does he have to make this so difficult?'

* * *

Marco was sitting crossed legged on the floor in his room, staring intently at his right hand in front of him. Tom hadn't really given him any instructions on how to use the hex so it was up to Marco to figure that out.

He was concentrating as hard as he could on the tip of his finger and thinking about fire and heat. His finger slowly started to smoke a tiny bit which made Marco double his efforts. He bit his lip in concentration and tuned out the world around him. His finger started smoking more and more and he could see tiny sparks start to appear. 'Come.. On.. Just.. A bit.. More!'

He was leaning in so close to his hand at this point that he was almost touching it. Suddenly his phone started buzzing in his pocket which made Marco yelp in surprise. At the same time a fireball shot out of his hand and almost singed his eyebrows off. It hit the ceiling of his room and set it on fire. Marco quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher that he had prepared in advance and put out the fire before it could spread. 'Well… looks like the hex responds to emotions. I guess that explains why Tom can't control his fire sometimes when he's upset.'

He sighed in relief and decided to check the cause of his little fire incident. He pulled out his phone and froze upon seeing the caller ID. It was Jackie. Marco wasn't quite sure if he should answer but realized that he didn't really have a valid reason not to, plus he didn't want to seem rude.

"Uhm… hello?" Marco answered the phone awkwardly.

"Hey Marco! Happy birthday!" She sounded genuinely happy which made Marco eased up a bit.

"Oh hey Jackie! Thanks for the wishes. How's it going?"

"Ugh schools so boring without you and Star here. Nothing interesting ever happens anymore! The most exciting thing to happen in the last couple of months was Jannas prank on the principle."

Marco chuckled a bit. "Really? What did Janna do now?"

"She replaced the gold coins in his chest with chocolate ones. Ha ha, he was so pissed. So anyways, what's been going on with you? Haven't heard much since you left."

Marco felt a bit guilty about that. He really should have stayed in better contact with people on Earth. "Not much, became Stars squire, went on a few adventures, got fire powers, you know, little things."

Jackie seemed to completely dismiss the fact that Marco just said he got fire powers. "Ohhhh so you became Stars  _personal_ squire huh? So how are things going between you two if you know what I mean?" You could practically feel the wink through the phone.

Marcos breath hitched a bit and he started stammering. "W-well t-things are g-going great be-between us. W-Why do you ask?" He couldn't have sounded less convincing if he tried.

"Hey... you don't have to be awkward around me when you talk about Star. I get it, your heart belonged to someone else. We can't control how we feel man so I don't hold it against you. So come on, give me some of the juicy details." Jackie had a mischievous tone.

"Well… that's not it Jackie, Star… already has a boyfriend." Marco tried to sound like he was ok with this fact, but, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't keep the sadness out of his voice.

There was a silence on the phone for a little before Jackie regained her voice. "Oh… Uhm… Marco, are you… okay?" Jackie asked in a truly sincere voice that really crumpled Marco. They hadn't even broken up that long ago and now here she was, consoling him on his taken crush. He just couldn't understand how someone could be so chill, he really admired that about her.

"To be perfectly honest, not really. I- I want to be happy for them, I really do. Tom is a great guy, but… I just can't stop this heavy feeling in my chest like I'm being weighed down by something… sorry, I probably shouldn't be talking about this with you."

"No, Marco, It's okay. Here's my advice- follow your heart. If you feel like you should tell her, then just tell her. The longer you wait the heavier that feeling in your cheat is gonna get. Don't wait until it's too late…  _like me_." She whispered that last bit to herself.

"Well… That sounds like great advice Jackie, but… right now… I'm not even sure if she wants to be my friend." Marco sounded like he was at the edge of tears.

"Wh- Why do you think that?" Jackie did not expect this, she just thought that Marco got discouraged to make a move because Star had already moved on, but now it sounded like there was something far worse going on between them.

"Well… a bunch of reasons really. How she treated me when I came back. How distant she's been towards me." Marco glances over at the clock which reads 10.47 PM. "She even forgot… my birthday."

"Oh… well… there's still time. I'm sure she'll come by any moment." Jackie really didn't want to get his hopes up but by the tone of his voice it didn't sound like he even had any hope left. "Don't beat yourself up too much about it. It probably just slipped her mind." She tried to sound cheerful in hopes to lift up Marcos spirits.

At this point a lone tear slid down Marcos face. He wanted to end this conversation so he decided not to mention Stars date with Tom. "Yeah… you're probably right. Thanks Jackie."

Jackie could hear that he wasn't any happier but she could also sense that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. "No problem Marco! Try to cheer up. It doesn't suit you to mope around on your birthday, and… sorry for bringing Star up… I uh... I didn't realize."

"No no, don't be sorry, you didn't do anything wrong. If anything you helped me come to terms with my feelings a bit more. Thank you." Marco sounded sincere.

"Well bye Marco, try to enjoy the rest of your birthday." Jackie tried to sound encouraging.

"Bye Jackie." Marco then hung up the phone. He took a deep breath and sighed. He looked at the clock again and thought. 'There's still time. Don't lose hope yet.'

Marco wasn't expecting much for his birthday. He didn't want a big party or amazing gifts. In reality, he just wanted to spend the day with Star, maybe go on a few adventures or something. He just wanted to hear her say 'Happy birthday Marco!' in that bubbly voice of hers and that would have been enough for him to be content. But he never did hear that phrase, heck he hadn't even seen her since this morning and now the day was coming to an end.

Marco laid back down in his bed and picked up a picture frame from his nightstand. Inside was a picture of him and Star at the beach that they had taken back on Earth before any of this drama started. A small smile crept up on Marcos face as he started reminiscing.

* * *

It was nearing midnight and Star was pacing around in her room. She had spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out what she was forgetting, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't remember. She was getting really frustrated by this point, she really wanted to patch things up with Tom but to do that she needed to remember. She was walking in circles and chewing on her wand as she fell deep in thought.

She got pulled back to reality when she heard what sounded like scratching at the door. She looked down and saw Glossaryck pawing at the door like a pet begging to go out for a walk. "Ugh, Glossaryck, I don't have time to take you out for walkies! I'm very busy right now."

Glossaryck looked at her for a second before resuming clawing at the door.

"UGH, I don't have time to deal with you right now Glossaryck!" Star stormed to the door and pushed it open for him. Glossaryck took off running, yelling a 'Globgore!' as he sped off. Star slammed the door shut and slumped down her wall with her head in her hands. She had tried anything and everything she could come up with to jog her memory- meditation, standing on her head, she even tried to come up with a memory jogging spell but with no luck. She decided to try and retrace her steps and see if she could pick up any clues on what it could be she forgot.

"Okay, let's go through this one more time. I went to the restaurant and sat at our table. A few minutes later Tom walked in dressed in casual clothing. He said something about not expecting it to be a fancy place, but we always celebrate our anniversaries at fancy restaurants. I mean on our first anniversary he took me to one of the best restaurants in the whole underworld so he should have expected it to be a fancy place." Star scratched her head in thought. "Could he have forgotten about the anniversary and tried to make up an excuse or something? No, Tom's not like that anymore, plus he didn't get mad until later. It seems like he was expecting something but our anniversary wasn't it… apparently whatever he was expecting was more important." Star huffed in annoyance. "I don't get it! What could possibly be more important than our anniversary!? This is Tom I'm talking about! Knowing how long he's been after me, I just can't see anything being more important to him than our relationship. Ugh, I'm not getting anywhere thinking like this. Okay, back at the restaurant he said something about expecting more people so whatever I forgot included more people. Did I forget a get-together that I had planned? No, I've had this day marked on my calendar for weeks and made sure to tell Marco not to schedule anything for today." Star stopped for a moment suddenly remembering something. "Wait… Marco… Oh I remember Tom mentioning him by name at the restaurant! Maybe he knows what I'm forgetting!" She let out cheerfully. She cursed herself in her head for not thinking of asking Marco sooner, he always knew what she was supposed to be doing.

She happily skipped to her door, relieved that she was finally going to find out what she had forgotten.

* * *

Marco was lying on his bed, absentmindedly playing with a small flame as it danced between his fingers. He had accidentally summoned it while reminiscing and was now easily able to control it. All he had to do was think of happy moments in his life to sustain and bend the flame to his will. Most of Marcos happy memories were with Star, almost any memory he had of Star was a happy one, from the first day that he met her and helped her defeat Ludo and his goons, to the time where she had sacrificed her wand just to save him. Okay that one wasn't happy per say, but it made him feel happy that she had valued him more than her wand. Well…  _had_. He wasn't so sure anymore.

He remembered how she treated him when he got back to Mewni, how it seemed like she didn't want him around, how she tried to put as much distance between them as possible by making him a squire to Sir Lavado of the Wash. This memory made Marco feel a wide range of emotions- sadness, disappointment, betrayal, but most all, anger, not at her but himself.

Suddenly the flame in his hand rapidly expanded, its comforting warmth replaced by an intolerable heat, it had almost reached the ceiling when Marco quickly closed his fist, snuffing out the magical flame. He looked up at the new scorch mark on his ceiling and whistled.

'... Note to self- only think happy thoughts when handling a demon hex.' Marco thought to himself.

Marco was brought back to reality by the sound of his door creaking open. He turned his head to look at it with a hopeful smile on his face. Suddenly he heard the familiar screech of 'GLOBGORE!' as Glossaryck launched himself at him, attaching to his head like a facehugger. Marco thrashed around for a moment, trying to peel Glossaryck off of his face till he realized that the blue creature wasn't clawing or biting his face, no it was more like Glossaryck was… hugging him.

Marco stopped squirming and Glossaryck let him go after a few more seconds of awkward face hugging. He climbed down into his lap, spun around a couple of times like a dog and laid down in Marcos lap as he started lightly snoring. Marco smirked to himself as he softly rubbed the gem on Glossarycks forehead.

"You know, I kind of like you better like this." Marco whispered to himself.

Marco was just about to lie down himself, when a bright orange portal opened up in his room. Glossarycks head shot up and he bolted out the door the moment he saw the portal.

Marco knew far too well who that portal belonged to, it had been taunting him for sixteen years so it was kind of hard to forget.

Marco sat up on the edge of his bed and looked at the portal. He suddenly drew his arm back and caught the hand that was about to smack the back of his head. Marco glanced over his shoulder with a smug smile and saw Hekapoo leaning out of a portal she had opened just behind him.

"Nice one Diaz, looks like you haven't forgotten  _everything_  from your time in my dimension." Hekapoo said with a mischievous smirk.

Marco quickly ducked his head as another hand attempted to give him a new bald spot and rolled off of his bed right behind the clone that had sneaked its way in through the original portal. Marco swept the clones legs from under her and quickly caught her and dipped her down, leaning in close to her face before blowing out her flame. The blushing clone disappeared with a 'poof'. Marco turned back to the real Hekapoo who was playfully pouting at him.

"You're no fun anymore." She said while trying to suppress her smirk.

"Nice to see you too H-Poo. What are you doing here so late?" asked Marco.

"Yeah sorry for stopping by so late, I've been really busy. Anyways, I heard that it's your birthday so I decided to pay a visit to my favorite human."

"Oh, so now I'm your favorite human huh?" He teased.

"Yeah you're also the  _only_ human I know so it's not like you have much competition." She jabbed. "But that's not the only reason I'm here. Since it's your birthday I thought I would give you the honor of field-testing one of my newest creations." Hekapoo said with a playful tone.

"If this has anything to do with The Titans of Eldia again, I think I'll pass." Marco deadpanned.

"Aww what's the matter? Got scared of a few Titans?"

"Those things were… disturbing. I still sometimes have nightmares about that night." Marco said as a shudder went down his spine.

Hekapoo quietly chuckled. "Well don't worry, this has nothing to do with them. I actually wanted you to test out a new scissor rune for me. Since you're a squire now and will eventually become a knight, I thought you would make the perfect test subject for my new scissor sword."

"I thought this was supposed to be a gift. How is me being your lab rat a present?" Marco inquired.

"The gift is that if it works you will be able to keep the rune and won't have to spend another sixteen years earning it."

"Oh please, you know it would take me a few months at most now." Marco replied teasingly.

"Looks like someone's ego has grown as big as his older versions muscles, maybe I should bring you down a peg or two after all." Hekapoo said with a threatening edge in her tone. "Now c'mon hand me your scissors." Hekapoo extended her hand to him.

Marco pulled the scissors out of his pocket and handed them to Hekapoo. She held the blades in the flame over her head and quickly chanted something under her breath. As quickly as she got them she handed them back to Marco.

Marco looked at the blades and saw a new symbol on the base of the blades. He looked back at Hekapoo with a bewildered look on his face. "That's it?"

"Yeah, what were you expecting some sort of long demon ritual with chanting and a blood sacrifice? This is real life, not some fairytale." She replied.

Marco thought back to him getting the hex from Tom which made him shake his head a bit. "What? No! Not at all! He he… why would I think that?"

"Well don't just stand there. Give 'em a try. Just pull back your hand and imagine them extending into a sword."

Marco pulled back his arm, closed his eyes, and thought about his scissors transforming into a sword. He slashed them through the air and the blades quickly merged together into a single long blade, the bottom of his scissors transformed into a hilt. Marco looked at his new weapon in awe. The little symbol on the blade, near the hilt, was now slightly glowing. "... Whoa…"

Hekapoo looked over her handy-work with a proud smirk on her face. "Looks like the enchantment worked perfectly. The sword is made out of the same metal as the scissors so it should be unbreakable. You should also still be able to open up portals while it's in sword form, but be careful, don't' want to accidentally send an enemy to Quest Buy in the midst of battle."

"Cooool! Thanks H-poo. That was actually nice of you." Marco looked over the magical blade once again. 'Hmmm… I wonder…' Marco closed his eyes once more and held the sword to his side. The sword suddenly ignited in flames, covering the whole blade.

Hekapoo looked at Marco with a grin. 'This human's just full of surprises, isn't he?' She thought to herself. "So where'd you get the hex?"

Marco twirled the flaming sword in his hand a couple of times, trying to get a feel for its weight. "A friend of mine gifted it to me today." Marco replied.

"You guys must be really good friends if he gave up his hex to you."

Marco looked at her questioningly. "What do you mea-" He was cut off by the old grandfather clock ringing in the hallway, signaling that midnight had arrived. Marcos face instantly turned to a frown as his sword went out and started shrinking back into scissors. 'She… she really forgot…'

Hekapoo noticed his wide smile change into a frown and asked. "Hey, what's the matter? Don't you like the sword?"

Marco looked up at her, putting on a small genuine smile. "No no, the sword is awesome, it's just… look I know this is sudden, but… could I maybe stay in your dimension for a couple of days? I just… need to get away from the castle for a little bit and… clear my head."

Hekapoo looked at his eyes and saw the pleading behind them. She could tell that something was really bothering him, but she wasn't really the best person to talk about feeling with so she decided to help out any other way she could. "Sure, I bet a few adventures will help you clear your head, plus it will give you a chance to try out your new abilities." She said with cheerful tone, hoping it would lift his spirits a bit.

Marco gave her a genuine smile. "Thanks H-Poo, you're the best."

Hekapoo was a bit flattered by the compliment but did her best to hide it. "Well I try. You know what? This is perfect. You could help me out with some rouge portals that have been opening up randomly across dimensions. I could use some extra muscle to close them."

Marco thought over what she'd said for a moment before a look of realization struck his face.

Hekapoo eyed him for a second. "What was that all about? Do you by any chance know anything about these portals?"

Marco thought over whether or not he should say. He knew that Star would be angry with him if he told anyone, but he thought that maybe Hekapoo could help deal with this whole sleep portaling mess. "I might know something. I'll tell you when we're in your dimension. Could you give me a moment? I need to quickly write something down."

"Sure, go ahead."

* * *

Star yawned and stretched her arms as she wandered the dark halls of castle Butterfly. On her way to talk to Marco she had gotten distracted by the rumbling of her stomach so she decided to make a short detour to the royal kitchen to grab herself a bowl of Cap'n Blanchers Sugar Seed. Now happy and full she was back on her mission to find out what she had forgotten.

She was walking towards Marcos room which was just down the hallway when suddenly the giant old grandfather clock startled her with its bell. Star instinctively grabbed her wand and pointed it at the clock. 'Holy corn that was loud! Is this thing made to wake people up?! Why would anyone want to wake up at midnight?!'

She looked over the old antique and noticed something peculiar about it. There was a pair of pink square irises looking at her from the top of it. She instantly recognized who they belonged to. "Glossaryck, get down here this instant!" She whisper yelled.

Glossaryck looked at her for a couple of seconds from the top of the grandfather clock then stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry.

"Ugh, why can't you ever make things easy for me?" She said and started climbing up. When she reached the top she was greeted by the sight of Glossaryck licking his hairy legs clean like a cat. Star was going to have to bleach her eyeballs after that ungodly sight. She quickly grabbed him while he was busy and jumped down from the clock. Star made her way back to her room and tossed Glossaryck in her secrets closet, making sure that she locked it with magic.

Star tried to quietly make her way to Marcos room again, trying to not wake people up even though she was sure that the clock had already done that. She finally reached Marcos room and raised her hand to knock but stopped suddenly. 'Maybe this isn't the best time. He's probably asleep right now and I'm here about to wake him up just to ask him a stupid question.' She hesitated for a few more moments before reassuring herself. 'Well, I'm sure he won't mind too much, plus this is really important to me so I'm sure he won't get too mad.'

Star softly knocked and Marcos door three times. After a few seconds of silence she knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still no response. She knocked a third time. "Marco, are you in there? I'm sorry to wake you but it's important." Still nothing.

She tried the doorknob and found that the door was unlocked. She slowly opened it and peeked her head through while covering her eyes. "Marco, are you decent? I need to ask you something."

She peeked through her fingers and surprisingly found Marcos bed empty. Star opened up the door all the way and entered the room. She looked around the room but couldn't find a trace of him. Star was a bit dumbfounded. 'He's not here. Where could he have gone at this hour?'

She decided to investigate. Maybe she could find a clue to where he could have gone. While looking around his room she spotted something peculiar on his nightstand out of the corner of her eye. She walked up to the nightstand and found a… half eaten cake on which was written 'Happy birthday Mar-'. The rest was already eaten but it didn't take a genius to figure out what was initially written on it.

"Happy birthday Marco? It's not Marcos birth… day…" Star froze on the spot. "N-No… it couldn't be. I would have known about it. I would have remem… bered…" Then realization struck her, the thing she had forgotten, the thing that got her boyfriend so mad, it was her best friend's birthday. Star was speechless. How could she have forgotten something so important?

Star then noticed a note left on his bed. She picked it up and read it.

' _Hey Star!_

_Hekapoo needed my help with something so I'm going to be gone for a couple of days. She said it was something important. I'll see you when I'm back._

_Marco'_

Star was panicking at this point. "No no no! Not again! Don't you dare leave me again Marco!" She had tears in her eyes.

Star started pacing back and forth in Marcos room as she read the letter over and over again. "How come he hasn't come back yet? If he's in Hekapoos dimension it must have been years already. Maybe… maybe he's not coming back." Star then snaps out of her daze and slaps herself. "WHAT AM I THINKING!? This is Marco I'm talking about, of course he'll come back. We're best friends, he wouldn't just leave because I forgot his birthday." Star stopped pacing and thought for a moment. "We are best friends, aren't we?" She said to herself in a small voice.

She thought back on how she'd been treating Marco since he came back. How at first she didn't even want him around and how distant she'd acted towards him. How outside of the squire sale she hadn't really hung out with him, and even then she didn't really have his back when the other squires were harassing him. Now that she thought about it, she wouldn't really be all that surprised that he didn't even see her as his best friend anymore, and that thought broke Stars heart a little. The thought of losing Marcos friendship was heart wrenching.

She brought her hand to her face and noticed that she had started crying. She lied down on Marcos bed and whispered to herself in a trembling voice. "I'm so sorry Marco. Please… come back to me!"

As she passed out from all the emotional baggage that was just unloaded on her a bright yellow light started shining underneath her.


	3. Reminiscing

A bright orange portal opened up in the middle of a barren wasteland. The ground was grey with a few dead trees scattered around. There was a volcano visible in the distance, spewing out dust and magma.

Marco stepped out of the portal and inhaled deeply. "Ahh, how I've missed the smell of ash and burning rock! It smells like… adventure!" Marco said in a deep and rough voice. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was quite a bit taller, had his old leather clothes on and, most importantly, had his rock hard abs again. "And I've even got my hot bod back! Awesome!" He said while pumping his fist into the air.

Hekapoo stepped out of the portal behind him. "Yeah, this dimension is basically on its own timeline so anything that happens here doesn't affect the interdimensional timeline, for instance, if you lost an arm here you'd still have it back in the normal timeline. That's why you got your 'hot bod' back." She said as she made quotation marks with her hands.

"Oh don't pretend you're not glad that I have my muscles back. If I remember correctly, you couldn't stop staring at them the first time you saw me like this." Marco said with a smirk.

"Okay! First of all, that was a clone, not me. My clones aren't perfect copies of me so that one was just a fluke. Second, the reason I… I mean the clone… was staring was because you had a giant swamp leech attached to your chest and I was just making sure you weren't going to die from blood loss!" She retorted with some fire in her eyes as she poked his chest to emphasize her point.  _And maybe try to sneak a feel of his hardened pecks._

"Ha ha, sure thing! Whatever you say H-poo!"

"COULD YOU STOP CALLING ME THAT!? It's not your birthday anymore so I have no quarrel with wiping the floor with you anymore!" The flame on her head grew twice in size and her eyes became red.

"Alright, alright. Geez, calm down. Anyways, what are we doing here? Even though it's been a while, judging from the scorch marks and the random skeletons littering the ground, I'd guess we're on the plains of Kitar. Why didn't you just bring us straight to the forge?" He asked.

"Oh! So you remember? Huh, that was a lot quicker than I thought it would take. So tell me- What happened here?"

"Well, if memory serves me right, I met a very special someone here back then." Marco put two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loud as he could. "When I first met her she was but a hatchling, abandoned by her family for being the last to hatch. She was so frail back then, so weak. She needed help and I gladly offered it. I took her into my makeshift home, nursed her back to health and forged a bond so strong that not even the gods could break." A loud roar could be heard in the distance. "That day, I met a lifelong companion and I'm glad that I decided to help her. After meeting her, there wasn't a single day where I could imagine a life without her…  _that's why it was so hard to let her go._ "

Over a nearby hill flew over a magnificent dragoncycle at top speed. The moment she laid eyes on Marco she went barreling towards him.

"Nachos!" Marco exclaimed happily. Moments later he got tackled to the ground as Nachos ran into him at full speed. She started happily licking his face and rapidly wagging her tail like an excited puppy. "Ha ha! Down girl, down! Aww papa missed you too bubu! I'm so glad to see you!" Marco started petting her head and scratched that one spot behind her left ear that would make her go crazy. Marco looked towards Hekapoo. "I didn't think I'd ever see her again. How come she looks like she hasn't aged a bit?"

Hekapoo was so moved by the touching moment that a tear had actually managed to sneak its way out of her left eye. She quickly wiped it off and regained her composure. "Well, dragoncycles are eternal beings, meaning that they don't age after they reach maturity. They aren't immortal, but close to it." She explained. "Now c'mon, it's time to go to the forge. Think you still remember the way?"

"Please, I know this hellscape like the back of my hand!" Marco exclaimed proudly. He climbed on top of Nachos and extended a hand to Hekapoo. "Hop on!" She took his hand and was hoisted up. "Hold on to my abs, they'll keep you safe!" He said as they took off.

"Oh just shut up about your abs already!" She said but still tightened her grip on him. "It seems like you recovered your memories a lot quicker than I expected."

"Yeah, I actually wanted to ask about that. When I returned to Earth from the trial, all my memories of those sixteen years became so… I guess clouded would be the best word for it. It almost felt like it had all just been a dream."

"As I said, the two timelines can't really affect each other but memories are a tricky thing. They can't fully be erased, only clouded and distorted. Since in your actual timeline only eight minutes had passed all those sixteen years got condensed into eight minutes so they got all mixed up and jumbled. That's why it seemed like a dream. You know how you can get a dream that seems to last for hours even though you only took a ten minute nap? It's basically the same thing."

"Okay so how come I can remember everything now?" Asked Marco.

"Were you even listening to me!? I said that memories can't be erased. When you returned to this timeline it 'unlocked' your memories. This includes your muscle memory so with a bit of practice you should be back in tip top shape in no time." Hekapoo explained. "You know, you could probably even regain your muscle memory back on your timeline as well with enough practice. Anyways, if you're gonna be staying here, I would at least like to know the reason why." She could feel Marcos muscles tense up after saying that.

"Ugh… something happened back at the castle and I… I just needed to get away for a little bit. I thought this would be the perfect place since no one would even noticed that I'd left." He explained in a saddened tone.

His answer was vague and Hekapoo could sense that it was something personal. "Okay, I won't pry but a word of advice- running away from your problems is not the solution. It's better to just face them head on instead of ignoring them for as long as possible. The longer you wait, the worse it'll get."

"Thanks for the advice, but I'm not running away. I fully intend on returning. I'm just… mentally preparing myself. I need to cool off a bit so I don't make a rash decision."

"Sounds to me like you're just stalling." She deadpanned. "Anyways, mind telling me what you know about the rogue portals then?"

Marco seemed to think for a moment. He had made a promise to Star not to tell anyone about what she's been doing at night, but if her nightly escapades were actually bothering others, like making extra work for Hekapoo, then he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Plus maybe Hekapoo could help figure out what was going on with her.

"Okay, I'll tell you; on one condition- you can't tell anyone about this. Not the high commission, not Roger, and especially not Queen Butterfly. Deal?"

"Okay, what did you and Star do now?" She asked in an accusing tone.

"Na uh uh uh uh, first you need to promise. You won't tell anyone about this." He said while wiggling a finger in her face.

"Ugh fine, I promise."

"No, not just a regular promise." He slowly lifts his hand and extends his pinkie to her. "Pinkie promise." He said with a deathly edge to his voice.

"You humans are so insufferable! FINE!" She grabs his pinkie with hers. "I swear I won't tell anyone about this conversation. Now talk muscles!" She exclaimed with irritation evident in her voice.

"Okay, this is gonna sound a bit weird but Star's been… opening portals… in her sleep."

Hekapoo stays quire for a moment before bursting into a laughing fit. "Ha ha! Nice one Marco! You sounded so convincing that I almost believed you for a second."

"Hekapoo, I'm serious." He said back to her without even turning his head. There was a strange lacking of any emotion in his tone.

Hekapoos laughter slowly died down. "Wait, you're not joking? She's opening portals… in her sleep? How? She doesn't even have her own scissors, and I know she hasn't been using yours since I would have sensed the activity."

"Okay. So you know how Star turned into a golden butterfly when she killed Toffee?" Asked Marco.

"Well, I didn't see it since I was, you know, 'drained' at that moment, but I heard about it in the battle report from Moon."

"You see, she's sort of been transforming into her butterfly form when she falls asleep and opening portals… without scissors." Marco said in a worried tone.

"Okay, stop kidding around now Marco! Even I'm not powerful enough to open a portal without dimensional scissors, and I'm the goddamn forger of them!" She waved her hands around in her frustration with Marco.

"Why is it so unbelievable that she can open up portals without scissors? I mean Tom can do that no problem and even though I don't want to talk little of him, I'm pretty sure any one of us could take him down. He doesn't seem THAT powerful."

"He can open up portals because he's a Lucitor, one of the only, no, THE only family that can open portals without scissors because their flames burn so hot that it can literally melt the dimensional barrier. It's an innate ability to him. But a butterfly, powerful enough to tear through the dimensional barrier, has never been heard of! Even Eclipsa can't do that and, she's the frikin Queen of Darkness! We have to inform the high commission about this asap!"

"NO! Hekapoo, you made a promise! Not a word about this to the commission!" He said with conviction. "My friendship with her is already damaged enough as it is. I don't want to break it." He said with a hint of sadness.

Hekapoo was at a crossroads. She could ether betray Marcos trust and tell the high commission, which would result in her losing both Marcos and Stars trust forever and also potentially ruin Marcos friendship with Star, OR stay quiet about this and try to fix this mess with Marco, but potentially get thrown out of the high commission, losing the Queen's trust and endangering the universe by letting the sleep portaling Butterfly run wild.

'I mean, it's just one lousy friendship I'd be ruining… or I guess two if you count mine and Marcos. It sounds like their relationship is already hanging by a strand, would he really be that mad at me if I told them?' Hekapoo debated in her head. 'Is it really worth risking the wellbeing of the universe to save a relationship with one human?' Hekapoo looked up at Marco who was looking back at her with a small warm smile. "Ugh! FINE! I won't tell the commission about this, but you owe me big time for this!" She said with a bit of frustration in her voice while pointing at his face.

Marcos smile grew twice in size after hearing that. "Thanks H-Poo! I knew I could always count on you."

Hekapoo just sat in silence while pretending to pout while hanging on to Marco tight for a couple of moments before breaking the silence. "So what can you tell me about Stars… 'sleep portaling'?"

"Well, she transforms into her Butterfly form shortly after she falls asleep and opens up a portal right beneath her. When we found out about this, we tried stopping it by chaining her down but the chains didn't really do much. The first couple of times all she did was get some Goblin Dogs, that is, until she just brought back the whole truck. After that I don't really know where she's been portaling through. The one time I got dragged along with her she just flew around in space for a few moments before I managed to wake her."

Hekapoo just sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought. "Hmm interesting. It sounds like at first she had a goal, which was to get Goblin Dogs so in her sleep, when she transformed, she set out to achieve that goal, but when she had done it and had no goal in mind, she didn't know what to do so she just aimlessly flew around in space. If this is true, we could use this to our advantage."

"... Wow… you deduced all of that… from Star getting some Goblin Dogs in her sleep. I'm not sure if you're an utter genius or just a complete nutcase." Marco said in a playful tone.

Hekapoo jabbed his side. "Oh please! You should know that I'm a genius by now! Hey look! We're approaching the Ironwood forest."

Marco looked away from Hekapoo and back onto the road only for Nachos to suddenly swerve out the way of a massive tree in their path. "Whoa!" Marco leaned down to whisper in his dragoncycle's ear. "Nice save Nachos! I was totally not paying attention."

They rode on for about another ten minutes before finally reaching the forge. The two clones guarding the entrance got into a battle stance upon seeing the dragoncycle. Marco jumped off of Nachos and pulled out his scissors midair. He transformed them into a sword and slashed the air with such force that it created a small shockwave which blew out the flames of the two guards, making them disappear. Marco landed on the ground and glanced around him. He was now surrounded by multiple clones of Hekapoo.

"An ambush? I'm guessing this is another one of your little tests?" Marco said while getting into a battle stance and assessing his situation. He was counted twelve Hekapoos not including the real one which seemed to be hiding somewhere. Over his sixteen year journey he somehow managed to pick up the skill to tell apart the clones from the real deal. He's not sure how, but he could just tell.

"No, this is for destroying two of my clones! There was no need for that, you're not on trial anymore musclehead!" She shouted at him in frustration.

"Marco rubbed the back of his neck with an apologetic smile on his face. "He he, sorry about that. Just old reflexes kicking in."

All of the Hekapoos expressions changed into small smirks. "I'm gonna make you pay for that!" They all said in a playful manner and charged at him. While charging they took out their scissors and ripped the two blades apart, transforming them into dual daggers.

Marco decided that this would be a great opportunity to test out his new hex where he knew he wouldn't actually get hurt… okay he could get hurt, quite a bit actually, but at least he couldn't be horribly maimed.

He quickly summoned his hex and thought of the first happy memory that came to mind. He smiled before slamming his hand into the ground creating a shockwave of fire on the ground. Most of the clones managed to react in time and jumped but there were two that weren't so lucky.

'Ten.' He thought to himself before jumping up in the air and rapidly spinning in circles while shooting fire out of his palms. He turned into a small whirlwind of fire and managed to catch three clones off guard, who weren't expecting such a move from him.

'Seven.' The rest of the clones landed and got ready to charge him as soon as he stopped spinning. The whirlwind of fire dissipated but, surprisingly, there was no Marco inside of it. All the clones started frantically looking around, trying to figure out where he had went.

"Ugh, spread out and search for him!" one of the clones ordered. They all split off in their own direction and started searching for him. One of the clones started treading deeper into the forest, her ears perked up to pick up any sounds and her eyes frantically darted around, scanning every nook and cranny for any signs of Marco.

She heard one of the clones yelp in the distance to her right. She quickly dashed towards the sound but stopped when she heard another yelp to her left, then another behind her, then another and another 'till everything was silent once more.

"Ugh! Good for nothing clones!" The clone angrily mumbled under her breath. She slowly crept through the woods, still trying to pick up on his location. Suddenly two muscular arms grabbed her from behind and restrained her by holding her up by the arms. The clone looked back and saw Marco, whose face was now covered in the shadow of his red hood that he had apparently put on during the fight.

"One." He whispered into her ear. "Looks like I passed your little test."

The clone hid her smirk from him, knowing what's about to happen. Suddenly Marco whips her around just in time to avoid a smack to the back of the head, and places her flame in the path of the oncoming palm, snuffing it out.

The clone disappeared in a poof and the real Hekapoo grumbled. "Zero." Marco smugly states.

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or annoyed. How'd you know it was a clone?"

"Call it a hunch. Now are you done with your little game?"

"I am,  _for now_. But know that I will get my revenge in due time. This is not over!"

"It never ends, does it?" Marco mused as he entered the forge. It looked exactly the same as the last time he was there when he received his scissors. Hekapoo wasn't really much for redecorating.

"So, what's the plan muscles? What's our first course of action?"

Marcos shoulders slightly slouched forward and he let out a tired sigh. "Well, I was sort of hoping I could first spend some time in your dimension before we tackle this rouge portal business. I kind of wanted some time to practice with the new sword and hex, that is, if you don't mind." His mood switched quite drastically at that moment. It was as if he was brought back to his current situation in his normal timeline.

Hekapoo picked up on the change in mood. "Sure! Take as much time as you need! I'm sure Star won't cause too much damage in ten seconds!" She said with genuine sincerity which you didn't hear often from her.

Then a light bulb went off in her head and gave her a perfect idea on how to cheer him up. "Hey, it sounds like you've had a rough day. How about you spend the first night here and rest up? I only have one bed though so we'll have to share" Hekapoo said in a bit of a flirtatious manner.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm gonna pass. I want to head out as soon as possible and I'm not really tired anyways." Marco casually replied while shrugging his shoulders, her implication jumping way over his head.

Hekapoo just sighed at his obliviousness. "Well alright. I'm going to do some digging and see if Star's been up to anything lately while in her sleep. When you're ready to head out just make your way back here and inform one of the clones." She waved him off as he left, well not before attempting to smack the back of his head once more but yet again, she was unsuccessful.

Marco stepped out of the forge and hopped on Nachos back. He thought about where to go before deciding to just see where the wind takes him. He took off in a random direction and decided to just keep riding until he found something of interest.

"Well that was nice of Hekapoo to offer me a place to stay. You don't see her performing acts of kindness very often. Actually, I think I've only seen her do something like that just once before."

* * *

We join a twenty four year old Marco as he rides into a small village on his trusty dragoncycle. The village was mostly comprised of small wooden buildings and farmland.

At this point, Marco had well developed muscles and had switched out his red hoodie for his leather adventurers outfit. He had kept his hoodie and transformed it into a red hooded cape which he was currently wearing with the hood thrown up. His prized katana was strapped to his back and rested in its black sheath. His face was hidden in shadow, cast by his red hood. Marco looked down at his little leather bound notebook which had a bunch of drawings of small flames drawn on the pages. "Number twenty two, your time is up." He said in a low gravelly voice.

He drove up to what looked like a local tavern and hopped off of Nachos. "You can roam around if you'd like Bubu. I'll call you if I need you." Marco bent down and kissed her snout and scratched her ear, making the dragoncycle purr in response. Once he stopped she took off into the sky, leaving a cloud of dust on the ground.

Marco turned his attention to the tavern doors and slowly made his way to them. As he made his way inside all the commotion died down and everyone, except for the bartender, turned their attention him. As he slowly walked over to the bar, he could feel that all eyes were on him. Once he made it to the bar, he sat down and all the commotion once again resumed.

"So what'll you have?" The bartender asked as he cleaned a mug with some cloth, not even looking up at Marco.

"Actually, I wanted to know what you could tell me about her." Marco replied as he pulled out a picture out of one of his jackets inner pockets and slid it towards the bartender.

The bartender quickly glanced at the photo before resuming his work on the mug. "Never seen her before." He replied casually.

Marco pulled out a small leather pouch and tossed it on to the bar. "Maybe this will help jog your memory." He said in a cool neutral tone.

The bartender picked up the tiny pouch and tossed it into the air a couple times before quickly sliding it inside of his jackets pocket. "I've heard rumors of a woman that matches her description attending some sort of gathering in our local woods at midnight tonight. The woods are South from here, but I would steer clear if I was you. Lots of people never return back from those woods and a lot of people report hearing strange noises from there at night." The bartender warned.

"Don't worry about me. I've been in worse places than just some scary woods. I'll be fine. Thanks for the info." Marco got out of his seat and headed towards the door.

"Come back any time." The bartender called before resuming his obsessive cleaning of this one particular mug.

* * *

It was now dark, the surroundings illuminated only by the three moons that hung in the clear night sky. The forest consisted of dark dead trees with birds hanging from their branches. The birds resemble crows, only they had five bright yellow eyes with red pupils and a beak as sharp as a razor. The ground was covered in a weird green fog that seemed to be pouring out of the trees.

Marco slowly trudged through the dense dark forest with his hood thrown up. He didn't dare light a torch for fear of getting spotted and scaring the clone away, okay not really scaring her away more like in fear of getting smacked in the back of the head.

Marco started hearing the faint sound of what sounded like… chanting? He got down low and slowly crept towards the noise. He started seeing a faint light in the distance over a hill top. He knew he was on the right track. He quickly made his way up the hill and looked down at the light source.

He wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. At the bottom of the steep hill were a bunch of uhm… creatures? Dressed in bright orange and yellow robes. Each creature looked unique, like they all were from different dimensions. They were all standing in organized rows and staring at…  _her_.

They were all staring at Hekapoo who was lazily lounging on a throne. She wasn't wearing her regular dress, instead she wore a long orange silk skirt, decorated with a bunch of golden jewelry at the top. She wore the same colored top which was made out of the same material as the skirt. Her head was adorned with what looked like a small golden circlet with a red ruby in the center.

"What the hell is going on?" Marco quietly asked himself. He could hear that they were all chanting something, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. They all got down on their knees and bowed down to her. "I guess this is as good a time to strike as any."

Marco jumped into the air and unsheathed his katana. With a mighty slash he sent strong gust of wind right towards the flame above Hekapoos head. Marco smirked to himself as the wind was just about to hit the flame. Suddenly the clone sneezed and lowered her head, causing the attack to miss. Marco landed amongst the robed figures which were all surprised by the intruder. The ones closest to him pulled out small daggers that looked like cheap knockoffs of the ones Hekapoo loved to use. They were about to attack Marco but were stopped by Hekapoo who was holding up her hand, motioning them to stop.

"Hey, muscles! I was wondering when you were finally gonna show up." She greeted him.

Marco slowly stood up and pulled back his hood, revealing his face. His face had matured quite a bit in the past ten years. He now had a chiseled jawline and a bit of stubble. His right ear had two piercings and his eyes seemed to reflect everything that he had seen in those ten years. Those weren't the eyes of some go-lucky teenager anymore. No, those were the eyes of an adventurer, filled to the brim with determination.

"Hey, H-Poo! Long time no see." He replied slowly.

"H-Poo? What are we giving each other pet names now?" She asked with a small chuckle.

"I don't see why not? We've known each other for ten years. Anyways, care to explain what's going on? What's with all the weirdoes in robes? And what's with your getup?" He asked in an inquisitive tone while pointing at her new outfit.

"Oh, how rude of me! Let me introduce you to the cult of Hekapoo!" She happily exclaimed.

"You have your own cult? ...Actually, what am I saying? This is you we're talking about. Of course you have your own cult." He said in a tone of disbelief. "So how did this happen?"

"At first, my task was to just to hide out and mess with you, just like all the others. After making my residency here, some folk started recognizing me and practically worshiping me. I thought 'Well if I have to just hide out and wait, I might as well do it in style!', so I let all the worshipers do what they want. They treat me like the goddess I am."

"Well I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but I need to snuff out that flame of yours." He said in an all too serious voice.

"Uhhhh… About that. You see, I don't think my followers are gonna be happy about you just waltzing on in here and killing their goddess, so if you want to get to me, you're gonna have to through all of them first." She said with an evil smirk.

"Ugh… you can never make this easy for me, now can you?" Marco said with a playful smirk. She knows that he doesn't kill anything that isn't a mindless bloodthirsty beast so this made getting to her extra difficult.

"Now if this was easy it wouldn't really be a trial, now would it?" She said, her smirk never leaving her face. "Guards! Seize him!"

All the robed figures around Marco dashed forwards, brandishing their daggers. Marco quickly jumped into the air while twisting his body. He did the splits midair and spun around, hitting all the robed figures in the face, knocking them out cold.

All the others recoiled back after this show of skill. They were all just regular people who decided to dedicate their lives to their goddess Hekapoo. They weren't fighters. Well, not most of them at least.

"C'MON COWARDS! FIGHT FOR YOUR GODDESS!" Most followers backed away, but there were four that quickly surrounded Marco, including the one giving orders. Marco could tell that these four knew how to fight just judging from their stances. "MAGES, QUICKLY! SUMMON THE DEMOGORGON!"

Eight robed figures that were off to the side quickly formed a circle and started chanting. A magical purple circle formed around them with ancient looking symbols slowly forming in the center.

"We call upon the one of eternal night, who hates all that is living and light…"

All four of the robed figures around Marco rushed him. He quickly dove out of the way of the attack but was tripped up by one of the figures.

Hekapoo was just sitting in her throne and laughing at Marco who had face planted. "Ha ha ha! Yeah! Summon the… WAIT! WHAT!?"

"…we free you from your ancient tomb that kept you from causing suffering and doom…"

"Wait! No! Stop you idio-"

"... To call upon your great dark power; to see our hated foe devoured!"

Purple lightning started striking from the clear night skies as the chant finished. The lightning was so bright that it momentarily blinded everyone. The thunder that followed was so loud that everyone was forced to cover their ears. When everyone had regained their sight and hearing they slowly opened their eyes. Now, in the center of the purple circle stood a monstrous figure.

It had two dragon-like legs and was about nine feet tall. Its body was colored in different shades of orange, red, and green. The beast had a long tail and red fur on its back. One of its arms split off into two tentacles while the other was a regular clawed hand. The creature had two faces, one above the other, with glowing yellow eyes and sharp fangs protruding from its mouth.

It just silently stood there, taking in its new surroundings. The robed figures slowly started clapping and cheering the creature on, relieved to have such intimidating back up on their side.

Then the creature let out an ear-piercing shriek that made everyone cover their ears and grind their teeth. It lashed out with its tentacle arm and sent four of the mages flying through the air. The previous cheers turned into shrieks of terror as all the robed figures tried to get away from the monster that they had unleashed.

"Oh boy." Was all Hekapoo mumbled before leaping into action. Using her speed, she quickly grabbed the mages that had been sent into the air and gently placed them down on the ground.

The four warriors that had been fighting Marco were frozen in their boots. The monster leaped at one of them, preparing to sink its razor sharp fangs into his neck. Marco just barely managed to grab him before the beast could land its attack. The frozen warriors quickly came back to their senses and started running for the hills. The creature hungrily looked at the retreating figures, but its view was blocked by Marco who was standing between it and its easy meal.

It got ready to lunge at Marco but was stopped dead in its tracks by a sudden sharp pain in its back. It bent forward, revealing Hekapoo who was sitting on its back with her two daggers plunged in between its shoulder blades.

"Hey, Muscles! How about a truce 'till we take care of ugly over here?" She yelled towards him.

"Sure thing!" Marco responded. It's not like he was gonna attempt to blow out her flame while fighting an ancient, powerful beast anyways.

The creature got down on all fours and started running and thrashing about, trying to buck Hekapoo off of its back, but she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Try to steer it away from the cultist!" Marco instructed her.

"Oh, thanks for the advice CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!" She yelled back. Hekapoo yanked her daggers as hard as she could to the right and, surprisingly, the creature followed. It continued running and thrashing for another three hundred meters before Hekapoo felt like she couldn't hold on any longer. She quickly yanked the daggers out and jumped off of the monsters back and landed right next to Marco, who was ready to face the best and had taken up a battle stance.

"Psst! How do we get rid of this thing?" Marco loudly whispered while not taking his eyes off of the creature.

"What do you mean 'How do we get rid of this thing'!? I thought you had a plan! You're the one who made me drive the thing over here!" She whisper yelled while glaring at him.

"You're the one who summoned it! I thought you'd know how to get rid of it!" Marco whisper yelled back while glancing at her with a disapproving look.

"I didn't summon this thing! The mages did and I have no idea how to banish it! You're the adventurer! I thought you'd know how to get rid of it!" She yelled at him while throwing her arms about out of disbelief.

"Okay that's not important right now! Let's just focus on the beast… WHERE DID IT GO!?" Marco screamed as he turned his head in the direction of the creature only to find that it had disappeared without a trace.

Marco and Hekapoo quickly got back in their battle stances and were now standing back to back, frantically looking for the beast. They could hear the sound of branches snapping and footsteps all around them. Faint shadows could be seen dancing around in the darkness. All this did was put the two even more on edge.

"I think I heard them say something about it hating light. Maybe try using your fire powers on it." Marco suggested.

"How many brain cells did you trade in for those muscles? Look around! We're in a forest of dead trees! If I use my fire powers, it could start a wildfire and burn down the village close by!" Hekapoo argued back.

"Okay, fair point." Marco admitted. "I guess we're going in blind then."

The monster rushed out of the shadows and lunged at Marco. He was quick to react and jumped into the air, preparing to strike at the beasts head.

"WAIT, MARCO! IT'S JUST AN ILLUSION!" Hekapoo cried out, but it was already too late. Marco swung down his katana on the beasts head but, surprisingly, felt no resistance. The beast faded away upon impact, causing Marco to lose balance. A tentacle hidden in the grass quickly grabbed Marcos ankle and started dragging him deeper into the forest. Marco reacted quickly and dug his sword into the ground but it did little to slow him down.

Hekapoo skillfully threw her dagger at the tentacle, impaling it and forcing it to let go of its hold on Marco. Marco quickly jumped to his feet, grabbed the dagger and rushed back to Hekapoos side.

He handed her back the dagger. "Thanks for the save!" Marco took his place besides Hekapoo and faced the direction he had been dragged to.

They waited for a few agonizing seconds, but the monster staid hidden in the shadows. Marco heard a small twig snap behind them and quickly pulled up his sword, parrying an attack from the beast's clawed hand aimed at Hekapoo. Hekapoo was caught off guard by this surprise attack and wasn't able to turn around fast enough to avoid one of the beast's tentacles as it wrapped around her waist and lifted her into the air while the other one stuck Marco in the side, sending him tumbling to the ground a good fifty meters away.

"Oh no you don't!" Hekapoo cried out in anger before stabbing the tentacle with her daggers. The beast screeched out in pain and loosened its grip on her just enough to allow her to break free. Hekapoo landed on the ground and quickly dashed towards Marco to help him up to his feet. "C'mon, muscles! This fight isn't over yet."

As she was helping Marco off the ground she failed to notice the beast quietly rushing towards them.

"LOOK OUT!" Marco dove into her and managed to almost completely dodge the attack. Unfortunately, one of the beasts sharp talons managed to scrape Marcos left eye, but Marco was quick and, while still holding Hekapoo in one of his arms, managed to twist his body and slice the creature in its abdomen. The beast roared out in pain and quickly retreated into the darkness.

Marco and Hekapoo landed with a loud thud with Marco lying on top of her.

She looked up at him and saw his now closed and bleeding left eye. "What are you doing you idiot!? I'm just a clone, you could have just let the thing hit me!" She screeched at him, feeling guilty that he gotten hurt because of her.

"You may just be a clone, but you are MY challenge. Not its. I refuse to take any hand me downs. I'm going to earn those scissors fair and square! Plus, I need you!" He said while looking into her amber colored eyes.

Hekapoos mind screeched to a halt while she processed his words. 'What does he mean by 'I need you!'? This is just a trial, nothing more! I was just supposed to test him! This wasn't supposed to happen! Oh corn! What do I do now!? Well… I guess he is kind of h-'

"...to help me take care of that monster." Marco finished his sentence. He stood up and offered a hand to the flustered Hekapoo, though he failed to notice her reddened face in the dark. "C'mon, I think I've got a plan."

* * *

Hekapoo was slowly trudging through the misty forest, searching for the beast, which had gone into hiding, probably mending its deep stomach wound. She had been searching for a good twenty minutes now, yet there were no signs of the beast's location. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of bright yellow eyes had been following her for a little while now. They slowly followed her from afar, trying to find an opportunity to strike.

Hekapoo suddenly stopped and pulled her head back because of an incoming sneeze. The beast took this opportunity and silently started running towards her. As soon as its legs left the ground to pounce Marco jumped out of a nearby tree and shouted "Now!" as he slashed the air with his katana, sending a shockwave of air at the monsters feet, tripping it up. At that moment, Hekapoo turned around and opened a portal with her scissors. The beast tried but failed to slow down his momentum and flew through the portal. As soon as it was through, Hekapoo quickly closed off the portal with her scissors.

Marco quickly ran up to her and they high fived. "That was awesome! Can't believe my plan worked!" Marco shouted in glee. "You sure you sent him to the right place?" Marco asked with a raised brow.

Hekapoo just held up her scissors and started twirling them around her finger. "Don't worry. I made sure that the beast got a one way ticket to the sun. That was some pretty quick thinking on your part. How'd you know that it'd try to sneak up on me?"

"Well, it was quite obvious that the beast relied on stealth and ambushing from the way it fought us. We couldn't really wait for the Sun to rise so I thought we'd bring it to the Sun." He said with a shrug.

"You know, I never really got a chance to thank you for saving me. How about I treat you to a real bed tonight? I'm sure you must be tired of having to camp out in the wilderness constantly." She said with a seductive tone and half lidded eyes.

"Sorry H-Poo, but I've got to go back and make sure everyone's alright. Plus I need to inform them of how their goddess selflessly sacrificed herself to save them from the clutches of that terrifying beast." He said with a bit of mockery in his tone. Marco leaned in and quickly blew out her flame. "So long, H-Poo!" He said as he turned around and dashed off.

"Shoot! Forgot about the trial!" Hekapoo said as she snapped her fingers in frustration and disappeared into dust.

* * *

Marco was settling in for his first night back in this dimension. He had spent the day reminiscing of his old adventures and riding around on his trusty dragoncycle, feeling the wind in his hair.

While riding around he had accidentally driven into a magma wasp nest. These creatures were a lot easier to take care of when you're basically fireproof. It was a bit difficult to reach them with the sword and fire proved to not be very effective against enemies made of pure fire and molten rock so he had to improvise. Luckily Nachos was great at flying and with her help he was able to take care of the wasps no problem. The two were like an unstoppable duo.

Marco had also spent the day trying to improve his skills with the demon hex. After the encounter with the wasps he had attempted to fly like Tom using the fire but after one, maybe two or… ten failed attempts and hard landings he had given up on the idea.

Now that he was settled in with a cozy campfire and improvised sleeping bag, he lied down and rested his head on Nachos side. He finally relaxed and the adrenalin that had been pumping through his veins since he got back wore off, allowing him to think clearly.

The warm smile on his face faded and was instead replaced with a deep frown. He remembered the reason he was here in the first place and that he'd have to go back eventually.

"I'll just try and sleep it off. A few days here and I'll be ready."

* * *

Marco was packing up his items for the last time today. He had spent nearly a month in Hekapoos dimension but it hadn't helped. It was like his mind was still stuck in his own timeline and no matter how hard he tried to move on or forget the hurt, nothing really helped.

During his time here, he had gone on a few adventures, slain a few beasts that were troubling the inhabitants, well he mostly actually reasoned with the creatures and came to a compromise with them and the people, at least with those creatures who were capable of speech and rational thought. But, no matter what he did, his mind always went back to the same place of his frustrations, disappointment, and sadness.

He thought that enough was enough and that it was time to stop running. He may not be ready, but he's gonna face whatever comes next head on.

Marco had just put the last of his supplies in a pouch on Nachos side when he felt an intense heat behind him. He quickly dived forward and drew his sword, preparing to fight whatever it was. He whirled around, expecting to see a fire breathing hydra that had managed to sneak up on him or another magma wasp but what greeted him instead he was not expecting.

"T-Tom?"


	4. Bro to bro

Marco tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword as he stared at the pillar of flames. It has been quite a few years since the last time someone had attempted a sneak attack on him. The legends and stories that spread about him in Hekapoo's dimension have scared off even the toughest of beasts from attacking him which meant that there were only two options on what could be attacking him right now. It was ether someone who hadn't heard the stories about him or someone who's stupid enough to think he can take him.

Marco looked at the flame which was erupting from the ground. There was seemingly no source to it so it had to be magic.

'Hmmm, could it be a pyromancer? If so he really needs to work on his aim. I wasn't even fully on guard and he still missed.' Marco thought to himself.

Three pink fingers slowly emerged from the flame and bent in a way where it almost looked like they were gripping the flames. Then another three emerged just below the first.

'Looks like it's some kind of beast. Weird. How come I didn't pick up on its scent?' Marco prepared to strike at the strange beast that had managed to sneak up on him. Suddenly the hands parted and with them so did the flames, revealing the smiling face of Tom who had his eyes closed.

"T-Tom?" Marco asked as he registered the presence of his demon friend.

"Hey Mar-" Tom froze mid word as he opened his eyes and saw the sight before him- a thirty something year old man with a smoking hot bod that awfully resembled Marco. It took him a couple seconds of gawking before he noticed the mole under the man's right eye, proving his suspicions. Tom looked Marco up and down a couple of times then rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving him. "Marco? What the hell happened to you?"

"It's a  _really_  long story. Like, a sixteen years kind of long." Answered Marco with a shrug. "First things first. How did you get here? This is Hekapoo's dimension. No one should be able to get here without her permission." Marco calmly explained. To be honest he was kind of glad to see a familiar face after all this time, but he needed some answers.

Tom stiffened up. A cold bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He was a bit apprehensive about admitting this long kept secret now that Marco was like twice his height and three times his weight but then he remembered that this was Marco he was talking to. Still, Marco was quite intimidating.

Tom closed his eyes and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "He he, funny story. You remember when I placed that Naysaya curse on you?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah. It's kind of hard to forget. The little bugger ended up staying for three extra days, embarrassing me at every opportunity he got."

Tom was even less sure about admitting this after hearing Marcos slightly irritated tone. "Yeah well, that wasn't the only curse that I cast on you. I may have cast a location curse on you just in case I needed to intervene in any romantic advances you might try to pull on Star." Tom admitted.

Hearing the words 'Star' and 'romance' etched a small frown on Marcos face. "Ok then. Are there any more curses I should know about?" Marco asked. He didn't sound angry which surprised Tom a bit.

"Well, there were, but I already removed them. I thought I'd keep this one if I ever needed to find you in a pinch."

Marco relaxed and shrunk his sword back down to its scissor state. "Well ok then. What brings you here?"

"It was the end of the day so I thought I'd check up on you. Judging by the fact that I found you… wherever this is, I'm guessing she forgot, didn't she?" Tom asked with sympathy.

Marco looked away, not wanting to show the hurt on his face. "I'm fine Tom. No need to worry about me." He lied. He was still quite shaken up about what had happened, even a month later.

Tom looked up at Marco. He was a terrible liar. Tom wasn't just gonna stand by and watch as his friend mentally suffers. "C'mon dude. I can tell that you're not telling the truth. I'm here for you man. I'll lend you an ear." Tom tried to comfort him by putting his hand on Marcos shoulder, but he quickly realized that that wasn't going to work with their height difference.

Marco wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, he didn't want to bother Tom with his problems. There was no reason for him to worry. But on the other hand, he really wanted to get this off his chest. Maybe ranting his frustrations to someone would help alleviate some of the pain.

Marco sighed. "Okay Tom." Marco relented.

"Do you mind if we go to my place to talk? It… would be kind of weird to console you while you're… you know… like this." Tom gestured to his adult body.

Marco looked down and let out a small chuckle. "Ha ha! Yeah sure."

He followed Tom through the portal and ended up in Tom's bedroom. There were a few love sentence posters hanging off of the dark obsidian walls. A giant skull was hanging on one of the walls with a fountain of lava coming out of its mouth. Marco looked around the room and other than the strange torture devices it looked like any other teenagers room would.

Tom sat down on his couch that looked like two demon hands sticking out of the ground. He patted the seat next to him, motioning Marco to sit down beside him.

"So… uh… how you holding up pal?" Tom asked.

For a moment Marco considered just lying to him but quickly threw that idea out. Tom would be able to tell, and he was already here so he might as well tell him.

"To be honest, not so great." Marco confessed in a somber tone. He hung his head low and locked his gaze onto the floor. "Things have been… pretty rough lately." Marco admitted.

A deathly silence set in the room. Tom studied Marco- how he hung his head low, how he twiddled with his thumbs, how his usual smile was replaced with a deep frown. It was unsettling. Something was really bothering Marco.

"I'm guessing this is about more than just her forgetting." Tom inquired.

"...Yeah. I just… feel like nothing has been going my way lately… and it's all my fault." Marco said in a low voice.

Tom raised an eyebrow. 'What is he talking about?'

"I've just been… messing up a lot. Just one mess up after another. Damn, I've been messing up so much that I… don't even know where to start."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Tom suggested with a small comforting smile.

Marco just sighed. "I guess… it all started with that dreaded end of the year party… when Star confessed that she had feelings for me…"

Tom's eyes widened a bit. 'Wait! What? She confessed to him? How come I never heard about this? She told me that there was nothing going on between them!' Tom decided to refrain from commenting, instead opting to listen to get a better picture.

"...in front of everyone… including my girlfriend who was in the same room."

'Oh! So that's it! She had feelings for him, but he didn't reciprocate.'

"After Star confessed... she said that she had to leave Earth… forever. Then she ran away and disappeared without giving me as much as explanation. When she left, I was just… stunned. My best friend had just admitted that she has feelings for me and that she had to leave Earth for good. I- I didn't know what to do, I was in shock. I didn't instantly run after her like I should have, I didn't try to find out what's going on that would cause such a reaction. Instead I just moped around the house, hopelessly hoping that she'd come back. It took me THREE DAYS to finally muster up the courage to try and meet up with her and find out what's going on. What if Toffee had been quicker, what if Star was in danger and had needed my help!? What then!? God, I don't know what came over me."

Now Tom realized what this was about. Everyone knew about how Toffee had invaded the castle and taken control. Marco was beating himself up over nothing. "Listen Marco, you shouldn't beat yourself up about this so much. There was nothing you could have done to stop Toffee. He would have invaded the castle even if you were there to help. There's nothing you could have done." Tom tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault.

"No Tom! You don't get it. This is not about the castle. I was there when it got invaded." Marco explained.

Tom was very confused. "Then what is it about?"

"It's… it's about Star." Marco's voice cracked at the mention of Star's name. "I- I lost her there for a moment. She… she was just… gone…" Marco said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Tom asked.

"She…" Marco choked back a sob, refusing to cry in front of his friend. "She died… for a solid minute there, she… she was gone from this world." Marco said in a shaky voice, barely able to hold back the tears.

Tom was shocked at hearing this. "What are you talking about? She's… she's perfectly fine."

"Toffee… Toffee took her. He… trapped her inside the wand and… killed her. I- I was so… useless. All I could do was just sit there as I watched my best friend die! I was so- angry! I punched that damned lizard through his heart, but that did little more than tickle him. He simply picked me up and threw me away like I was a piece of trash and… at that moment… that's exactly how I felt." Marco couldn't stop the tears any longer as they freely ran down his cheeks.

Tom didn't know how to respond. This was the first time that he had heard of this. He decided to just let him continue. This story had to have a happy ending since Toffee was defeated and Star is alive and well. "So what happened next?"

"Luckily, by some miracle, Star came back in this awesome new golden butterfly form!" A faint smile spread across Marcos lips as he said that. "She blasted Toffee with this giant magic blast that literally melted him!"

Tom studied Marco's face. He had a small smile and a slight twinkle in his eyes as he told this part. That wasn't just a regular Marco smile, it was different, but Tom couldn't quite figure out in what way. "Well, that's cool. How come I've never heard this version of the story?" Tom asked. In the version that he heard, Star had just showed up, transformed into her butterfly form and destroyed Toffee. There was nothing about her dying.

"We were told to keep it a secret. The kingdom had already been destroyed and morale was low. There was no need to worry the people any further with the small details. They needed an uplifting story of their future queen, not one where the kingdom had almost gotten destroyed." Marco clarified.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"I can trust you to keep this a secret, right?" Marco asked.

"My lips are sealed!" He said as he made a gesture of zipping up his lips. Tom soon took on a more serious expression. "You… you really shouldn't blame yourself for this Marco. There's… there's no way you could have known what was going on and even if you did, Toffee was a literal  _immortal_ , or so we thought, I don't think there would have been much you could do." Tom felt a bit bad about saying that, but it was the truth and sometimes the truth can hurt.

"Maybe, if I would have just followed her, I could have prevented that whole ordeal." Marco said as he looked back down to the floor. In his heart he knew that it wasn't true, but the fact that it wasn't just hurt even more.

"There's no point on dwelling on the 'what if's'. All you can do is move forward and learn from your mistakes. You were in shock, understandably so. There's no need to beat yourself up about it."

"That still doesn't change the fact that I was completely useless and unable to help. I don't deserve to stand by her side, all I can do is get in the way. She deserves someone better to stand by her side. Someone like you." Marco said with his voice slightly trembling.

Tom raised an eyebrow. He was starting to suspect that this was about more than just feeling inadequate. "You're kidding right?" Tom asked in a disbelieving tone. "I've seen you two fight! You're like an unstoppable duo! You always have each other's backs and can match up your moves perfectly!"

"When we're fighting against Ludo maybe, but what about when there's magic involved or an enemy that my weak punches and kicks do nothing against? Then I'm just dead weight!" Marco retorted.

"So improve! Now you have a demon hex and an awesome looking sword! I saw you back there a few minutes ago. You looked like you could beat a dragon with one hand tied behind your back! If you feel like you're not worthy of standing by her side then you just make yourself worthy! Work towards it! I'm sure you could do it, no problem!" Tom happily exclaimed as he playfully smacked Marcos shoulder. "And even though you may not be able to help her fight an enemy like that directly, I'm sure you would still find a way to help even if it's just cheering her on. You're a smart guy! You'd come up with something!"

Marco looked up at him with a small smile. "Thanks dude! I… I really appreciate it!"

"No sweat! I've always got your back pal!" Tom said as he sank back into the couch. "So, what happened next?"

Marcos small smirk quickly faded, replaced by the now familiar frown although this time it seemed smaller than before.

"Things between me and Star didn't really get any better after that. There was this awkward tension between us. I made a deal with my parents to stay on Mewnie for half the summer to help rebuild it, but that was only a half truth. Moon was able to fix the castle in two days with Star's help. The real reason I stayed was to try and fix things up with Star. I wanted to talk about the confession, but she had already been through so much, and I didn't really want to push this on her so I decided to wait. When she would be ready we would talk about it but… we never did. I patiently waited but things just seemed to be getting worse between us. I tried to get us to talk one on one, but she always made up some excuse to why she couldn't. When my time ran up, I was just about ready to initiate the conversation myself but I… chickened out. I asked her if she wanted to come back to Earth with me, but she said that she was going to focus on becoming a better princess, and for that she needed to stay on Mewnie. I offered to visit, but she told me not to bother since she would probably be too busy to hang out anyways. Back then I felt like the whole 'becoming a better princess' thing was just to avoid me." Marco said with a disheartened tone.

"Hey! Don't think that! She really has been trying to become a better princess dude! I think you actually inspired her to improve if anything!" Tom shot back. In all honesty, it was inspiring to see someone like Star change but also a little disheartening. He missed the rebellious and adventurous side of Star.

"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say I inspired her, but now that I'm here I can see that she really has been trying to improve, and she's done wonderfully so far." Marco said with a small smirk which quickly disappeared. "After I returned to Earth I… didn't know what to do. Everything was so… boring without her. No magical adventures, no monster fights. I had to re-adjust to living a normal life again but I… couldn't. Instead I just constantly lived in the past, replaying all those adventures with Star over and over again in my head. I just couldn't give it up!"

'Or maybe… you couldn't give  _her_  up.' Tom thought to himself. He was starting to slowly piece everything together.

"God, I became such a  _cwossant_ girl when I got back!" Marco exclaimed in frustration as he ran his hand down his face.

"You became a what now?" Tom asked perplexed.

Marco quickly waived his question off. "Not important. Anyways, when I got back, I became a self-absorbed jerk. I was constantly gloting about the cape I was given,  _which turned out to just be a meat blanket, but that's not important,_ and I was constantly annoying all of my friends by telling the same stories of Mewnie over and over again. They got sick of it pretty quickly and I can't say that I blame them. I even made them play The Adventuring Zone with me just so I could get the tiniest taste of adventure again. I'm pretty sure Janna made all the campaigns as similar to my adventure on purpose just to annoy my friends even further, but that's besides the point. Slowly I ruined all of my friendships on Earth and made everyone hate me.

Worst of all, I ruined my relationship with my girlfriend- Jackie. I- I spent so much time chasing after her, she was the girl I had been crushing on since kindergarten, and what did I do when I finally got the girl of my dreams? I ignored her. I spent the first month and a half of our three month relationship in another dimension. Jackie was so cool and understanding. She knew how important my friendship with Star was so she was cool with it even though she knew about Star's feelings. I should have at least found the time to visit her. It's not like I was doing much on Mewnie.

Jackie wasn't spared from my ramblings about Mewnie ether. That was all I could talk about it seemed. I was such a horrible boyfriend! I mean, I didn't even taken her out on a proper date when I got back! I never even bothered to ask how her summer went! Then, when she managed to talked some sense into me, we finally went on a real date after I promised to stop wearing the cape and talking about Mewnie. It was fun! We went to the pier, played some carnival games, freed a lobster! It was a blast… at first. But, in typical Marco fashion, I had to go and screw it all up. I don't know why, but I just couldn't part with that blasted cape. I had secretly worn it under my hoodie on our date. When she found out, she wasn't mad or upset, which I still can't figure out how! How can a person be so chill!? She should have been furious with me... but she wasn't. I guess that's one of the things I loved so much about her. Instead of berating me like I deserved, she sat me down, and we talked. She… she could tell that I really wanted to go back, that I wasn't really happy here. She could tell that the only reason I came back… was for her… and she didn't want that. She didn't want me to sacrifice my happiness just for her… so… she gave me an out… and broke up with me…"

"... Damn dude. That's… that's rough."

"It was. I really wanted to make things works between us, but… I knew she was telling the truth. She deserved better anyways, someone who would be there for her and love her. Someone… who would want to know the real her." Marco said with a disappointed tone. He had made a statement during the 'Truth or Punishment' game that he was that person, but it turned out to be nothing but an empty promise.

'So he got dumped by the girl of his dreams? Strange, he didn't really seem that bummed out about it when he returned to Mewnie.' Tom thought.

"Since I didn't really have anything keeping me on Earth anymore, I decided to come back to Mewnie to try and patch things up with Star and become a knight. I- I met up with my friends one final time before I left. They had come to see me off. They… they forgave me for how I had been acting, but… I never felt like I deserved their forgiveness.

When I arrived, I expected to be greeted with open arms, but… that's not exactly how it went down. When I first saw Star, she seemed very surprised which should have been expected, but she also seemed a bit… uncomfortable. I get that we didn't exactly part on the best of terms, but I still thought of her as one of my closest friends. Well… evidently… she didn't.

You know what? It's funny, you were probably the only person who was happy to see me back.

Instead of being treated as a friend I was treated like… a trespasser. When the guards brought me to the King and Queen, they didn't seem too pleased ether. It turned out that Rivers offer of becoming a knight… wasn't exactly a lie… just something he never thought I would take him up on.

When one of the guards mentioned that I hadn't even been a squire, I asked them if I could be that then. Luckily, they agreed to let me become a squire, which meant that I could stay. I thought that Star would be thrilled, but she seemed… worried. It was like she… didn't want me there. When we got a chance to talk, she acted so… distant… disinterested. It felt so awkward. She ended up putting me in the  _sub_ -basement to squire for Sir Lavabo, the knight of the wash. It felt like she was trying to put as much distance between us as possible. I felt so… hurt. I mean no offense to Sir Lavabo, but I didn't come back just to become a laundry knight, but since I was already there I thought I'd at least give it a shot. It… didn't really work out so great. It turns out that being a laundry knight was a lot more dangerous than I thought. Star ended up saving me and making me her personal squire, which you would think was great news, but… it felt like she was doing it out of pity." Marco finished with a raspy voice. He was struggling to hold back his tears. He took a deep breath to calm down before letting out a massive sigh.

"It was stupid of me to think that I could just stroll back into her life and pretend like nothing ever happened. I… I really messed up man. I should have just stayed on Mewnie and tried harder to get through to her! My biggest regret is ever going back to Earth! All that did was ruin every relationship I had! Maybe, if I'd have just stayed… maybe me and Star… maybe we would still be friends." Marco finished as a tear of frustration ran down his cheek.

"That's it! I'm not just gonna sit here and listen to you constantly belittling yourself!" Tom yelled as he stood up from his seat. He walked over to Marco and placed both hands on the boy's shoulders. "Stop acting like everything was your fault! Stop thinking ill of yourself because you're not perfect! Nobody is perfect Marco! We all make mistakes! Stop… stop pretending that you're a bad guy, Marco, because you're not. I know from first-hand experience that you're one of the nicest guys if not THE nicest guy I know! You're my best friend and anyone who can call you a friend is lucky!

So you made a few mistakes? Big whoop! Everyone makes mistakes, it's just a part of life! And guess what? Mistakes can be forgiven. Just look at me! I'm the demon prince with massive anger issues and have probably made more mistakes in my life than the whole of Mewnie in its lifetime, but I was still forgiven!

And you know what else? It was all because of you! Even when we were sworn enemies at each other's throats, you still gave me a chance! And even after I betrayed your trust, you gave me another one! You made me realize that I actually needed to change. When I hired Brian, I wasn't actually trying to get over my anger issues. I was just pretending so that Star would give me another shot, but you made me realize that what I was doing… just wasn't right. You made me realize that if I changed that my life would be so much better and it is! You're an awesome person Marco! Making a few mistakes doesn't change that." Tom finished his rant with a soft smile.

Marco just looked up at him with wide eyes. His expressionless face slowly shifted to one of happiness. "Th- Thanks Tom!" Marco said in a soft tone. "You're right. I… I just have to make amends and hope… that my friends can forgive me. Guess I've got a lot of work ahead of me!" Marco said with a light chuckle.

Tom slowly removed both of his hands from Marco's shoulders and sat back down. "No problem pal! You'd do the same for me."

A short silence broke out between the friends but it wasn't an awkward one. It felt… peaceful.

"Hey, Marco. Do you know why I gave you that hex?" Tom asked in a calm voice, breaking the comfortable silence.

Marco looked up at him and slowly shook his head.

Tom looked into his soft brown eyes and smiled. "I gave it to you because you were my first real friend, Marco. I know it may be hard to believe, but I wasn't always the most likable guy." Tom said with a soft chuckle. "As you know, I'm only a half demon. This made my life a lot more challenging while growing up. My subjects didn't respect me and said that I was a mistake, a stain on the Lucitor lineage. Because of that I didn't really have any friends back then. Even though I was royalty I was mocked and ridiculed by the other nobles. My parents did their best to stop it but when you're already dead you don't really have much to fear so all my parents could do was issue empty threats.

One day I just couldn't handle the ridicule anymore and I… snapped. I almost burned half the castle down and it's made out of obsidian! After that though, no one was picking on me anymore. They were all... scared. They didn't fear death, but if I was to burn them with the Lucitor flame, they would have to live the rest of eternity in agony. My parents were too kind hearted to punish someone like this, but I wasn't.

That's when my anger issues started. All I had to do was get angry and show them my flame and they would do anything I wanted. I thought that their obedience meant that they finally respected me but… I was wrong. They didn't respect me, they… feared me.

I went on for a long time without realizing that. Everyone was too scared to tell me… but not you. You hated me, but you were not afraid to show it even though you knew that I could burn you to a crisp. You were real with me and made me realize that I... needed to change.

Back when I was trying to get back together with Star, I wasn't really trying to change. I just wanted some sort of symbol or in this case badge that I could wave around and pretend that I had become a better person. On that day you gave me a chance to prove myself… and I betrayed you. When I was hanging out with you that day I felt… genuine happiness. I finally knew what it felt like to have a true friend… and then I lost it. When I saw the pain and hurt on your face I realized that you… that you actually believed in me… you believed that someone like me… could actually change. At that moment, I understood that no badge nor symbol could change me. The only thing that could… was myself. I had to prove it to myself that I could change, not to Brian or anyone else.

And I realized the first thing that I had to do on my new path. I had to make things right so I did everything in my power to show you that I actually wanted to improve as a person and even though you had no reason to believe me, you still gave me another chance, and I will forever be thankful for it." Tom took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "That is why I gave you my demon hex. A hex is a very special thing. Only a Lucitor can bestow someone with its power and only once in a demon's lifetime. It gives you access to the sacred Lucitor flame that burns in the depths of the Underworld. The flame hot enough to melt the dimensional barrier. As you train and learn to use it the hex will become stronger, enforcing the link between you and the flame and unlocking new abilities. Who knows, perhaps one day you'll be powerful enough to open your own fire portals.

I'm entrusting you with this great power because I know that you will use it wisely. You're a great guy, Marco! You've helped me more than anyone else in this universe. Remember that the next time you feel down. My door will always be open if you ever need to talk." Tom finished and lightly patted Marco on the shoulder.

Marco was a bit speechless. He never realized what kind of an impact he had on his friend's life. He'd never seen this side of the demon before. "Wow, Tom… I- I don't know what to say. The only thing that comes to mind is… thanks." Marco said with a bright smile. "I feel like you're giving me too much credit though. What about Star? Didn't you guys date before? I somehow refuse to believe that you guys weren't friends back then."

"Yeah, it's true that we dated, but we were going through a bit of a rebellious phase at the time. She was trying to annoy her parents by dating a demon and I was trying to prove to everyone that I could date any girl that I want. Of course, we did actually like each other and I even fell a bit head over heels for her but after a few months my anger issues started to ruin things for us. We weren't really compatible so she decided that we should break up. I didn't really take that very well so we ended things with a huge fight and  _really_ bad terms."

"Oh, I see. Well… I'm glad that things worked out for you guys in the end." Marco said with a bit of a strained smile. He really wanted to be happy for Tom right now but his emotions simply refused to cooperate.

Even though it was very faint, Tom still managed to spot the stain in Marco's face. He didn't know what, but there was something very distinctive about Marco's genuine smile and he hadn't seen one of those in a long time. This signaled to Tom that his job was not yet done. He had a theory on what was bothering Marco, now all he had to do was prove it.

"Another reason I didn't give Star the hex is because she's already scary enough as she is with her wand. Could you imagine an angry Star with fire powers!? The whole castle would be up in flames!" Tom joked which got a genuine laugh out of Marco.

"Are you kidding? She did that with her wand alone! That's why they sent her to Earth! If she had fire powers the whole kingdom would be in danger!" Marco shot back.

Tom let out a hefty laugh. "Yeah! You're probably right. She has always been really good at destroying things even when she doesn't mean to."

"True, but she always does her best to fix her mistakes. She would go to the depths of hell and back to fix any wrongdoing." Marco said with a soft smile and a distant look on his face.

"Hey! My home's not  _that_ bad! But you're right. She really is a kind hearted spirit, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she really is an amazing girl alright." Marco finished with a blissful sigh.

Tom intently studied Marcos face. He could tell by that caring smile and the longing in Marco's eyes that his suspicions were correct.

'Well… there's no running from this conversation... I have to do it… for him…' Tom thought to himself. He quickly gathered all the courage he had and took a deep breath. "You… you like her… don't you?" Tom asked as he looked at Marcos face.

Marco slowly lowered his gaze to the floor and hung his head low, letting his dark brown hair cover his eyes.

"It's okay… I promise I won't burn you to a crisp. Just be honest." Tom said with a small encouraging smile.

Marco glanced at him through his hair and sighed. "You know I can't lie to you man. I- I do like her… I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about pal. We can't decide who our heart will latch on to, it's out of our control. Just know that I won't be giving her up without a fight!" Tom said lightheartedly with a small punch to Marco's shoulder.

Marco looked up at him and smiled faintly. "Don't worry man. I won't get between you two."

Tom cocked an eyebrow at him. "What? But you just admitted that you…"

"I know but confessing to her isn't going to help anyone right now. Star already has enough on her plate. I don't really want to add on to it. She's been so busy with trying to figure out this monster rights issue, reading about Mewman history and their treatment of monsters, like actually reading and paying attention not just moving her eyes and pretending, and we both know that she would rather shovel warnicorn dung than read! She's been attending her parent's lectures on how to behave like a proper princess and only falling asleep once every lesson. She's also been planning a Monster-Mewman party for the end of next month to try and improve relations between the two.

Star's been really stressed out lately and I feel like confessing would just cause more stress for her and I don't want that. It would just make things really awkward between all of us. What good would that bring? Plus… you make her really happy Tom. I really mean that. I see the little spark in her eyes every time you make a surprise visit. You always manage to cheer her up when she's stressed. You have no idea how much it helps her." Marco said as he put an arm on Tom's shoulder. "As long as she's happy, that's all that matters to me. I really am happy for you two. It just hurts a little at the moment. Don't worry. It will pass. I'll move on eventually, just like Star did."

Tom was completely stunned by Marco's words. How could such a kind and selfless person think so little of himself? Sure he made some mistakes but so does everybody else.

To sacrifice your own happiness just to preserve the happiness of others was mind boggling to him. It just showed Tom that he still had a long ways to go, although this still didn't seem fair.

"Alright, Marco. I won't force you to tell her. That's your choice, but I still think you should. It's not okay for you to suffer just because you want to preserve her happiness. Don't you think Star has a right to know? Remember how she bottled up her feelings for you? From what you just told me, it doesn't sound like it turned out so well in the end." Tom tried to reason with Marco. Although a small part of him was telling him to just drop it and be happy that he gets to keep Star all to himself he didn't listen to that part of his brain since he knew that that was not what a good friend would do.

"You're probably right, but I really don't think this is the right time. To tell you the truth, I only realized my feelings at the soulrise, and it had to literally be spelled out for me to finally get it. Don't worry about me. For all I know this could just be a small crush brought on by my recent breakup. Maybe it will pass in a couple of days." Marco said, trying to sound casual to lighten the mood.

Tom thought back to their recent trip to the lava lake and he frowned inwardly. He had been wearing Marcos hoodie that Star had given him that day. Not only that, but he had also torn the sleeves off. There was no ill intention behind it but he could see how that could convey the wrong idea.

Tom also realized something far worse than that. He remembered how he acted that night. He had paid all of his attention to Star and almost completely ignored his other friends that night. He didn't even bother to stop playing volleyball when Kelly suddenly left. Tom's old bad tendencies were starting to shine through again. 'Oh my corn! What's going on with me? That was so uncool of me! Marco didn't even know Kelly that well and I just left him to deal with her on his own! And for what? Just to finish some stupid volleyball game!?' Tom made a mental note to check on Kelly and that he had to be careful not to slip back into his old tendencies.

That's when another realization hit him like a runaway dump truck. 'Oh no! Did Marco see us kiss? Is that why he left so suddenly? Man I've been a horrible friend! I had no idea that he was going through so much hardship all this time! I need to make things righ-"

"Uhhh, Tom? Are you okay? You sort of spaced out there for a moment." Tom's trail of thought was derailed by Marco snapping his fingers in front his face.

"Huh? Oh yeah! I'm fine! Just wanted you to know that I won't chain you up in a dungeon if you do decide to confess to Star!" Tom quickly replied.

Marco chuckled at Tom's words. "Okay. Even if you did, all I would need is some butter and three weirdos to escape. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I want what's best for everyone, and right now that is for your relationship to work out. As long as you two are happy I'm okay with dealing with a bit of sadness for a while."

"Okay, Marco. I'll put in a good word for you in the underworld. Maybe set you up with a cute demon. I can be a great wingman you know!" Tom joked. "I'll try and tone it down with the lovey dovey stuff with Star when we're around you. It's the least I could do."

Marco was going to protest but stopped just as he was about to. As much as didn't want to mess with their relationship, he also didn't know if he could handle seeing them kiss again. "Thanks, Tom! I really appreciate it."

"No problem man! So, what are you gonna do now?" Tom inquired.

Marco thought for a moment. He kind of wanted to tell Tom about Star's sleep portaling problem, but then he remembered that he had promised not to tell a soul, and he had already broken that promise. They were already on unstable ground and she's probably going to get really mad at him for telling Hekapoo. He really didn't want to make things even worse for himself.

"I'm gonna head back. I need to help Hekapoo with something important." Marco said. Technically he wasn't lying but he still felt bad for hiding the full truth.

"Oh okay! Sorry for keeping you so long! I didn't realize that you had something important to do." Tom said as he got up and offered a hand to Marco.

Marco took Tom's hand and was quickly yanked up to his feet. Tom extended his arms out and opened up a portal back to where he picked him up. Marco went up Tom and extended his fist.

"No need to apologize, Tom. I'm sorry that you had to listen to my self-loathing for so long. I promise that I'll try to improve on that. And… thanks… for everything. I really appreciate it" Marco said with a small smile.

Tom bumped Marco's fist with his own and they both drew back their hands and made explosion sounds and gestures. "Hey no problem man! You would have done the same for me. Already have a couple of times! When you get back I want hear an explanation on why you looked like you were in your thirties back there."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you all about my epic adventures in that dimension some other time! See ya Tom!" Marco said as he stuck half of his body through the portal.

"Later, Marco!" Tom shouted after him.

As Marco passed through the portal it closed behind him. He landed in front of the forge where two Hekapoo clones were guarding the entrance.

"Hey H-poos! Sorry to keep you waiting so long!" Marco said as he approached them.

Both the clones looked up with bored expressions. "Oh, it's you muscles. I didn't even realize you were gone. Go on in." The clones motioned him to go inside.

Marco solemnly went inside, a bit disappointed that Hekapoo hadn't even noticed his absence.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Marco was yanked out of his train of thought by an angry Hekapoo stomping towards him. "Where the hell have you been!? You said you needed a month not two centuries!" Hekapoo yelled as she jabbed his chest. "I was looking all over for you! I had two hundred clones searching for you! I thought you had died of old age by now!"

"Awww, I didn't know that you cared about me that much!" Marco playfully cooed at her.

Hekapoo blushed a tiny bit but quickly recovered. "I didn't! I was worried about how I was going to explain your death to the Queen! She would have my head if I let you die! Anyways, where were you? You look like you haven't aged a bit." Hekapoo asked.

"Well, if you must know, I had a friendly chat with Tom in the Underworld." Marco explained.

"Oh… So that explains why I didn't feel you leave the dimension with your scissors." Hekapoo eyed him up and down a couple of times and noticed that his mood had considerably improved so she couldn't really stay mad at him. "Fine whatever! Come here! I think I've got something."


End file.
